HALTThe International Magazine of Antique Carpel and Textile Art
Issue 101
E d ito r Daniel Shaffer D eputy E d ito r Jill Tilden Assistant Editors Ben Evans, Abigail McCullough E d ito r ia l Assistant
Sania Kahman C onsultant Editors Michael Franses, Robert Pinner C ontributing Editors
Julia Bailey. Alberto Boralevi John Carswell, Steven Cohen Thomas Cole. Rosemary (h ill Susan Day. Donald Dinwiddie Murray Eiland Jr. Herbert Exner Anthony Ha/ledine. Rina Indielor Ralph Kal’fel. Alan Kennedy DeWitt Mallarv. John Mills Vanessa Moraga. Thomas Murray Penny Oakley. Carlo Maria Suriano Wendel Swan. Parviz Tanavoli John Wertime
A r t D ire c to r Liz Dixon A r t E d ito r
Sam Paton
Publisher Sebastian Ghandchi
Advertisenient Manager Ralph Emmerson Advertisement Executives Rosario Canade. Jasmine Cherkaoui Advertisement C o -ordinator Angharad Britton
D is trib u t io n Assistant (Jiris Armstrong
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THE COVER Tampan pasisir (ritual cloth). Paminggir people*, Lampung, coastal South Sumatra, 19th century. Cotton, supplementary weft, 0.67 x 0.69m (2'2'A" x 2'3"). This magnificent textile is one of only a small handful of this type that survive. Published related example's are in the Museum Nasional, Jakarta, the Tropen Museum. Amsterdam, the Holmgren-Spertus Collection, New York, and on the cover of Michael Franses’1975 exhibition catalogue Kroe Textiles from South Sumatra. These pieces vary slightly in their iconography but share acommon theme, a large sea-going vessel depicted in minute and accurate detail, with multiple decks, masts, sails, banners, a welldefined tiller, and with charming depictions of sea creatures below. Passengers include men, some wearing headdresses, armed with Krises (ritual daggers). On the middle deck people stand among the gongs, chimes and drums of a gamclan orchestra. To the right, in a private room, a reclining figure with an attendant is thought by Holmgren and Spertus to be awoman giving birth. On the upper deck, in a central pavilion, a small tree stands between two men, possibly a symbol of fertility. Private collection.
47 SPECIAL MARKET REPORT
ASIAN ART IN LONDON Never mind New York, take a look at London, say dealers and public galleries across the capital: a special preview by Don Dinwiddie of an autumn celebration olLondon’s long-established role in the Asian art market. 59 EDITORIAL
An appreciation of Donald King, former Keeper of Textiles at London’s Victoria &Albert Museum, CIETA President, carpet and textile scholar, friend ofHALI and peacemaker, who died in July. 61 LETTERS
Matters ofnomenclature and identification: John Mills relays a message from Lyalil Kerimov: Michael House protests at Tibetan misrepresentation; Deacon Stehling sets the record straight on Greek Orthodox vestments; Robert Torchia proposes a comparison; Anton Felton on the breadth of information provided by the Genizah. 63 FRAGMENTS
Queen Victoria’s shawl at the Peabody Museum; next stop Hollywood for HALI’s man in Istanbul; The Triumph oj Fame heads for a world famous collection; Edith Appleton Standen remembered; from Mali to Virginia; the Neutrogena Wing has opened at Santa Fe's Museum ofInternational Folk Art; a pile-woven bicycle seat cover; a Chinese ivory plaque with a carpet design. 68 FORUM
Professor Donald Little takes a closer look at one of the Arabic sources quoted ina recent article on Mamluk blazon carpets, asking whether it implies the existence of a 14th century Mamluk carpet production in Cairo; forward thinking conservation at The National Trust. 73 POSTCARD
Jonathan Hope recalls a visit to the West African state of Mali where he visited the Dogon escarpment, home in centuries past of the weavers and dyers olTellem.
74 THE YERKES COLLECTION
Thomas J. Farnham fhe late 19th century American collector Charles Tyson Yerkes was no doubt not the first successful businessman tosee the acquisition of art as a way of enhancing his standing insociety, but he was certainly one of the most determined. His insatiable appetite for money, women and beautiful things combined to make him a maverick who is nevertheless remembered for assembling one of the most remarkable classical carpet collections of all time.
88 THE SHIP & THE TREE
Adat Textiles of South Sumatra ThomasMurray The continuity of ritual textiles made in southern Sumatra, as inother areas ofIndonesia, wras guaranteed by the precepts of adat or ancestral law. The designs of Lampungpalepai,tatibin and tampan reflect the range of influences that have been brought to bear on the Culture of the region, as well as individual insights and acts of creativity on the part of the weavers.
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