ISSUE 140 MAY/JUNE 2005

C O N T E N T S & EDITORIAL

23 |LETTERS

Adding to Siyah Qalam; the real Peter Pap.

25 |NEWS

Qianlong kesi screen soars in NY.

27 | FRAGMENTS

Saudi injection of cash for the Ashmolean.

29 |MARKET FOCUS

Diana Collins on the Hong Kong scene.

31jPREVIEW

Fairs: The HALI fair 2005. Exhibitions: Early 'Mongolian' textiles in Bonn: Mughal carpets at the Frick: Huari at the TM, Washington.

55 |CALENDAR

Auctions, exhibitions, fairs and conferences.

57 |GALLERY

House style advertisements.

63 |B 0 0 KS

Abegg's Textilien desMittelmeerraumes aus spatantiker bis friihislamischer Zeit: Nancy Hoskin's The Coptic Tapestry Albums.

68 |FORUM

The Soviet ethnographer Valentina Moshkova on Uzbek julkhyrs. translated for the first time.

70 |WEAVINGS OFTHE LORS

OF IRAN Part 1: Flatweaves Parviz Tanavoli Neglected in the literature, and misattributed to their better-known neighbours, an informed view of the character specifics of Lori weaving.

78 j LANGUAGE GAMES

Iban Textile Designs in Their Cultural Context Traude Gavin Looking at Iban weavings of Borneo from the perspective of language, and the potential pitfalls in interpreting motifs from 'label names'.

103 |REVIEW

Fairs: TEFAFMaastricht; Asian Art NY; Marin Indian Show. Exhibitions: Scythian treasures; Matisse and his Textiles; Arts &Crafts; Persian flatweaves; Early Asian silks; Henkel Collection.

127 |AUCTION PRICE GUIDE

Tekke Turkmens feature at RB and Netherhampton: 2004 winter NY sales.

133 |DESIGN FILE

Chris Eager profiles LA's Ahmadi brothers.

137jNETWORK

Classified advertisements.

142 |PROFILE

The collecting habits of Brian Morehouse.

143 |PARTING SHOTS

From San Francisco to Paris to New York.

Over the past 26 years HAI.I has been edited in turn by lan Bennett. Robert Pinner, Michael Franses (the only editor so far to chose a camel rather than a carpet or textile for the cover). Alan Marcuson and Daniel Shaffer, with the last two each serving for just over a decade. During this time our pages have reflected the ebb and flow of market trends, the discovery and opening up o f new areas of study and, most importantly, the development of an international community o f rug and textile connoisseurs, experts and enthusiasts.

As I take my turn in the hot seat, the antique carpet and textile market is moving into one of its more critical and defining periods. Many dealers report that there are few new buyers around, while buyers claim that there is little interesting fresh material, and that prices have risen sharply as more people chase fewer goods. The previously strong decorative carpet market is losing ground to high quality newly-made carpets, and Sheikh Saud al-Thani, for some time the principal player in the Islamic art market on behalf of Qatar's ambitious museum development projects, is no longer active and it is uncertain when or whether Qatar will resume buying.

Over this extended period, the antique rug and textile market has had repeated high points,which have become the yardstick by which all other periods are gauged. But they are not the norm. Surely we should consider the time between the high points as being the real market. And it is not all bad news out there: the textile market has grown strongly over the past half dozen years and the Islamic art market still has a number o f strong buyers to look to. Under new directorship, The Textile Museum in Washington DC looks set to adopt a more dynamic approach to its mission, encouraging a wider appreciation o f carpet and textile art. And as we report in this issue, trade at the New York Asian Art week trade was 'buoyant', an indication that Chinese buyers were emerging as a major force in the art market.

O f course the finite reserve o f antique rugs is a problem, but since rug and textile collecting has become more widespread over the past 26 years, objects have been bought and looked after, not worn out on floors, leaving them to re-enter, not disappear from, the market. So the task for the immediate future is clear - to encourage new buyers into the market, and to refresh the way that people look at and appreciate antique rugs as well as to find previously unknown rug and textile types. So watch this space. Ben Evans

THE COVER

Seated Odalisque, Left Knee Bent, Ornamental Background and Checkerboard by Henri Matisse, 1928. Oil on canvas, painted when Matisse was experimenting and pushing the use of colour to the limit, while renting an apartment in Nice which he filled with costumes, curtains and textiles augmented by‘dressing-up’ cloths: pantaloons, silk sashes and embroidered boleros. There is a theatrical quality to this picture, with its raised perspective that acts like a stage. The costume and textiles create rhythms across the canvas’ surface, distorting and flattening space. Matisse said at the end of his life “ Revelation thus came to me from the Orient”: Islamic art provided a catalyst for him to subvert the classicism that dominated his generation in the decade before World War I. The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Eta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland, BMA 1950.255

© S u c c e s s i o n

He nri

Mat i s s e/

D A C S

2 0 0 5

HALI 140 j 5