CONTENTS

I s s u e 6 0 V o l u m e 1 3 , N u m b e r 6 D e c e m b e r 1 0 6 1

Editor & Publisher

AlanMarcuson Deputy Editor Daniel Shaffer Senior Editors Maria Schlatter. Jill Tilden

Assistant Editor

Jennifer (all Editorial Co-ordinator

Jinlv I lirsli Chief Contributing Editor

Ian Dennett Contributing Editors AlbertoBoralevi. StevenCohen RosemarvGrill. Michael I ranses Donald Kino;. DeWitt Mallary

JohnMills. ThomasMurray Yanni Petsopoulos. Robert Pinner

JamesW. Reid, PhilippaScott

ParvizTanavoli. Neil Winterbottom Picture Librarian

JohnStroud

Produetion Manager

AndrewRyan Art Editor

Liz Dixon Assistant Art Editor

Amanda Bakhtiar

Art Assistant Tat I an Liu DTP Consultants Colin Maxwell. NicoMacdonald

Sales N: Marketing Director

SebastianChandchi Advertising Manager

Nicholas I-ripp Adverti sement Executive

Ju l ie \\ icks Advertisement Co-ordinator

Ben I.oveless

Subscriptions GraceHilliar Distribution MarcThomas

Publisher's Assistant

WendvKasabian Systems Manager Veronica Purdev Administration

Vivian Robins Receptionist /ol >i<la Khan

TheGerman language supplement ispublishedasan integral part of 11AIA.

Editor MariaSchlatter Translators Dorrit Dunn. SuzanneVlattern

60 EDITORIAL 71 LETTERS

Headers'comments and responses: danger s oj I I light: the popularity of English ISth century furnishing silks-, a wall with a hollow ring: how reliable is carbon-datingY 75 FRAGMENTS

In the dark - the McCoy Jones kilims at the Institut duMonde Arabe in Paris: a tiger-striped saddle rug; new faces at the Ri/ksmiiseiini Amsterdam and the Museum of American Textile History, Massachnssetts. 81 FORUM

DrRosalind Thomas looks at the mot ires and means of those who seek after' remote cultural origins. 84 CONNOISSEUR S CHOICE

Conserrator Richard Hall sees many great carpets. but has no difficulty in nominating a superb example of Elizabethan English 'Turkey' work as the masterpiece that has moved and excited him the most. 86 SALOR ENSIS

Robert Pinner Early weavings of the Salor tribe —crisis abore all - are scarce and highly prized, with only seven Salor ensis currently known. /he author compares and contrasts the two design groups so far identified, finding that they constitute what ma v be a prototypical 'compendium of Turkoman designs. 98 INSULAR LANDSCAPES

Alistair Sampson 1/f appreciation of the wit and English ness of a series of exceptionally well preserved 1' th and ISth century needlework pictures, with more than a passing thought for the gentlewomen who made them. 102 CONTEMPLATE WHAT HAS

BEEN DONE: Silk Fabrics in Paintings by Jan van Eyck Lisa Monnas Opulent and splendid silks and cloths of gold in richly sensual colours abound hi the work of the 15th century Flemish artist Jan ran Eyck, who, as court painter to Philip Duke of Burgundy, was able to draw on obserration as well as imagination in depicting liixuiy textiles. 7 he author examines their social and symbolic meaning in both secular portraiture and religious paintings.

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