41AGRAND 16TH CENTURY AFFAIR ATLA SCALA MILAN

66GOLDAND SILVER: MASTERPIECES FROM THE NEAR EAST

111ALANDSCAPEOFCOLOUR: THEARTOFTHESOFREH

CONTENTS ISSUE 154 WINTER 2007

FRONTLINES

LETTERS When is a knot not a knot? The Oriental Carpet Manufacturers Limited

FRAGMENTS The Edmund de Unger Collection in Berlin, new Oceanic galleries at New

33

York’s Met, 75 years of the Hajji Baba Club, plans for a new Islamic art collection in Houston 35 ENEWS A summary of the best on www.hali.com and the rest of the web 37 OBITUARIES Paying our last respects to Christa Maltzahn and Romolo Battilossi 39 POSTCARD The opening of Teatro alla Scala in Milan with carpets from Moshe Tabibnia 41 MARKETREPORT Views on the success of the San Francisco Textile & Tribal Art Show,

plus an interview with organisers Bill Caskey and Liz Lees

45

PROFILE ÖÖmer Koçç: avid collector and Chairman of the Sadberk Hanım Museum 56 FROM THE ARCHIVE A black and white photo from 1977 revives the ruggie Seventies 61 FORUM The age and authenticity of LACMA’s recently purchased Anatolian village is tested 63 MASTERPIECE A Mosul ewer and basin set from the Islamic Art Museum, Berlin 66

FEATURES

CLOTH CURRENCY

68

MARYHUNTKAHLENBERG

The cross cultural influence of early Indonesian cloths and 17th century Indian chintzes

FESTIVALS, FAIRS& RITUALS

In the eastern grasslands of Tibet

76

CHERI HUNTER

Vibrant and exciting: a written and photographic journey from Lanzhou to Chengdu through the

Tibetan wilderness

FROMLESSINGTOETTINGHAUSEN

The first century of Safavid carpet studies

80

THOMASJFARNHAM

Is our knowledge of carpets becoming more enlightened over time? The author appraises the scholarship

of the founding fathers of Persian carpet

SHADESOFOPINION

Five yellow-ground Caucasian rugs

GUSTAVE TASCH & IAN BENNETT

Zeikhur, Shirvan or Kuba? Differing opinions on the age and attribution of this selection of yellow

ground rugs. The authors do, however, concur that they represent the best from the Caucasus

92

WRAPPEDTOGETHER

An early Sumakh in an international style

ELENA TSERVA

Examining the Hermitage Museum’s newly acquired rare flatwoven carpet with a ‘15th century

international style’ design with a similar example from Washington DC’s Textile Museum

96

CONTEXT

EXHIBITIONS The art of sofreh in Munich, John J. Collins’ Persian pile bags, Safavid wonders

in Paris, Neo-Classicism to Pop from London’s Francesca Galloway, Volkmanntreffen in Berlin, Dutch

tapestries at Franses New York, Rudi Molacek’s installations in Vienna, Parcours de Monde Paris,

the 13th International Congress of Turkish Art in Budapest, paintings and carpets in Portugal 111 AUCTIONS Linda Wrigglesworth Collection at Christie’s New York 137 CALENDAR Auctions, exhibitions, fairs and conferences worldwide 140 AUCTIONPRICEGUIDE October sales from London and beyond 147 DESIGN FILE The Megerian family and their contribution to the Armenian weaving tradition 176 BOOKS Mehmet ÇÇetinkaya’sCentral Asia’s Magnificent 99 Ikat Chapans, Oriental Rugs in

Renaissance Florence from The Bruschettini Foundation for Islamic and Asian Art,The Turkic

Speaking Peoples. 2,000 Years of Art and Culture from Inner Asia to the Balkans 181 PARTING SHOTS We cover the globe: Budapest to Kabul via New York 190 FIRST VIEW A ççintamani carpet from the Schwarzenberg Collection is finally printed in colour 192

HALI ISSUE 1545