HALTTheInternationalMagazineof Antique Carpet and TextileArt
Editor Daniel Shaffer Deputy Editor Jill Tilden Assistant Editors Ben Evans, Abigail McCullough Editorial Assistant Sania Rahman Consultant Editors Michael Franses, Robert Pinner Contributing Editors Julia Bailey, Alberto Boralevi John Carswell, Steven Cohen Thomas Cole, Rosemary Crill Susan Day, Donald Dinwiddie Murray Eiland Jr, Herbert Exner Anthony Hazledine, Rina Indictor Ralph Kaffel, Alan Kennedy DeWitt Mallary, John Mills Vanessa Moraga, Thomas Murray Penny Oakley, Carlo Maria Suriano Wendel Swan, Parviz Tanavoli John Wertime
Art Editor Sam Paton
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THE COVER The Figdor silk, silver and gold th read kilim, Kashan, central Persia, second half 16th century. 1.25 x 1.92m (4'1" x 6'4"). Formerly the p roperty of the early 20th century Viennese collector Dr Albert Figdor, this extremely well known and much published Safavid silk kilim was first exhibited in the famous Munich exhibition of 1910. According to Friedrich Spuhler, au th o r of the newly published catalogue of carpets and textiles in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, some forty Safavid silk kilims, including fragments, are known, but th e ir relationship to the silk and metal thread ‘Polonaise’ carpets, woven in Esfahan in the 17th century, is by no means as clear cut as it was once assumed to be. The Figdor kilim is most closely related in design to an almost identical silk kilim (perhaps the pair) from which the tabard of the Japanese warrior leader Toyotomi Ilideyoshi (15361598), now in the Kodaiji Temple, Kyoto, was fashioned (HALI 76, 1994, p. 108). In her 1972 catalogue of the Thyssen carpets, May Beattie pointed out the close relationship between its latticework and that seen on the 17th century Buceleueh Kerman Sanguszko carpet (see Tessa Murdoch, ed., Boughton House, The English Versailles, 1992, p i .63). Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, inv.no. DEC0457/III.
Issue 104
4.3 EDITORIAL
The C-14 debate continues; medieval art?...it just doesn't pay say the V&A.
45 LETTERS
Tache-Iess traders taken to task; new vigour in rug studies; a call for Kordi rags; a double-niche Turkmen ensi.
47 FRAGMENTS
Saintly amputations leave no blood on the carpet; solving conundrums on a Mashad pictorial rug.
49 FORUM
Jeff Spurr reports on Richard Tapper’s work among the Shahsavan: current realities and ‘competing mythologies’.
56 MEETINGS & PARTINGS: A 16th
Century Embroidered Choir Hanging B i rg i t t B o rk o p p Combining the mystical symbolism of the Hortus Conclusus and scenes of biblical narrative, the imagery of this rare embroidered hanging takes up themes popular in the woven art of Switzerland and southern Germany.
58 AFSHAN: A Study of Design Evolution
Murray Eiland The elegant blossom and palmette Afshan design is familiar in successive generations ol Caucasian rugs dated through the 18th and 19th centuries. These rugs may be seen as tracing the classic parabola of design ‘degeneration’, but there is good reason to suspect the bona fides of this widely cited process.
66 CHINESE OR KOREAN?
The Palazzo Corsini Rank Badges Chris Hall The association of textiles and status has never been more fully expressed than in the vividly embroidered rank badges first used in China, and subsequently emulated and adapted by Korean embroiderers.
69 ICOC IN ITALY
It’s that time again! Anticipating total rag immersion at September’s 9th ICOC, we preview exhibitions and events in Milan, Florence and Venice. A Museum for Milan; the Poldi Pezzoli Collection reflects its founder’s eclectic pursuit of the beautiful; ICOC participants will be drawn above all to the remarkable group of classical carpets. Russian State Secrets: once again a little known cache of Russia's Turkmen treasures will be shepherded to the West by Elena Tsareva. Links A cross T im e and Space: carpets and textiles spanning six centuries and taking in many regions, with a primary focus on Anatolia. An Invitation to Lugano: masterpieces of carpet art are to be seen among the rugs and textiles of the ThyssenBornemisza Collection on show in Lugano. A Florentine Affair: the Bargello. medieval fortress turned museum, yields up a sophisticated collection of textiles from East and West. Carpets o f the Doges: Mario Bergamo reports on the post-ICOC tour to Venice, where oriental carpets received as gifts from the Levant communicate an everpresent memory of La Serenissima’s glorious past.
HAU 104
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