o n c

S e

HALTThe International Magazine of Antique Carpet and Textile Art

Editor Daniel Shaffer Deputy Editor Jill Tiklen Senior Editor Nicholas Purdon Editorial Archivist & Librarian Rachel Evans Editorial Assistants Abigail McCullough. Sania Rahman Consultant Editors Mic hael Franses. Robert Pinner Contributing Editors Julia Bailev. Alberto Borale\ i John Carswell. Steven Cohen Thomas Cole. Rosemarv (hill Susan Day. Murray Inland Jr Herbert Ex tier, Anlhotiv Hazledine Rina Indietor. Ralph Kaffel Alan Kennedy. DeWitt Malian John Mills. Vanessa Moraga Thomas Murray. Penny Oakley Carlo Maria Suriano, Wendel Swan Parviz Tanavoli, John Wertime

Art Director I,iz Dixon Art Editor Sam Pa ton

Publisher Sebastian Ghandchi

Senior Advertisement Executive Ralph Emmerson Advertisement Executives Rosario Canade. Jasmine Cherkaoui Advertisement Co-ordinator Angharad Britton

Distribution Assistant Chris Armstrong

Circulation & Database Consultant Veronica Purdev

IIALI IMBLICATIONS LIMITED St Giles House, 50 Poland Street London W1V 4AX, UK Telephone (44 171) 970 4600 Editorial answerphone + 11 (0) 171 970 4841 Main fax +44 (0) 171 970 4897 Advertising fax +44 (0) 171 970 4896 E-mail bali@centaur.co.uk For courier and hand deliveries only. HALI is located at: 1&2 Berners Street London W1P 3AG, I k NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS ADDRESS HALI Subscriptions Department Hali Publications Limited Tower House. Sovereign Park Lnthkill Street, Market llarboroiigh Leicestershire* LEI 6 9EE. I k Tel: +44 (0) 1858 438 818 Eax: +44 (0) 1858 168 969 A Member of the Centaur Communications Limited Group

DEDICATION IIALI 100 is dedicated to the memory of Donald King, former Keeper of Textile's at the*Victoria & Albert Museum. President! of CIETA. anel a greatly aelmireel and respected Contributing Editor te >MALI. Mis k(?<?ninlere*st in oriental carpets, and bis unstinting support anel advice over the*years have been crucial to IIALUs establishment and growth.

THE COVER The Ch<*ls«*aCarpe*t (detail)- Kerman (?). Persia, early 16th century. 3.16 x 5.50m (lOW x I8W). Arthur Upham Pope* (Survey, vol. 111, pp.2301-02). e-omparcs the*Cbe*lse*aCarpet (which he*attribute's to Tabriz) to the*Williams itie*elalliem e*arpet fragment in Philaele*lpbia: “The Multiple Medallion carpet e >fthe*Victe >ria and Albert Miise*uin represents a smaller blit equally ambitious and more refined work e»fthe same designer and probably e»fthe*same weavers. The*two have many factors in common: the definition e»fthe*recipre >e*al by balfarabeseptes; the use of the cinctured cloudbands alternately elirccted in the*e >pposing lobes; the flowering trees, and some? e»fthe*animals...It is a much more finished anel graceful design than that erfthe Williams fragment. anel the softly curving reeiprocals of the border are* evielene'e erf more pe*rfe*e*te*e >ntrol bv the*weavers, as are the gracerful fish in the*e*entral pool .Although e*e >nse*rvative*lvattributeel te >the sixtee*ntb e*entury, there* is ne >essential re*ase >n wbv this carpet sbemlel ne >thave be*e*nwe >ve*nat the* e*nel ed the*fifteenth e*e*ntury. Meist erf the*e*ritie*ale*le*me*ntse»fthe*design were we'll e‘stablishe*el at an even earlier elate*. The* eigival me'dalliems with their lace-like eirnamcnt were a conspicuous fe*ature edbook covers that can be*dated as early as 1405 (808 H). S11e*h animals as the*feeding anel e-eme-hant eleer have their counterparts in illuminations of the second half ed’the*fifteenth century. Even the reciprocal border is foretold on many miniatures before the*sixteenth century.” Pope also notes that “I)r Bode several times stateel...that lie* regarded this as the most beautiful of all Persian carpets.” The? Che*lse?a Carpet was acquired from William Morris in 1890. Victoria & Albert Museum. London, inv.nei. 589-1890.

issue 100

9 LETTERS

Scholars, weavers, collectors, dealers. HALI subscribers from year zero and those who acquired the habit more recently, join in celebrating twenty years of HALI.

73 EDITORIAL

Michael Franses, HALI’s co-lounder, looks back. 77 WORK IN PROGRESS

Vihat advances have been made in the rug and textile study field; what areas have provoked the most interest or suffered the most neglect? Co-founder Robert Pinner reviews the past decade, with additional input from Steven Cohen, Jacqueline Simcox and Daniel Shaffer.

86 BACK TO BASICS

‘Primitive' Pile Rugs of West & Central Asia John T. Wertime Scholars have so far been unable to solve the twin mysteries of where and when carpet-making first originated. Remembering that "The new does not always slay the old”,the author asks whether relatively recent ‘primitive’long-pile rugs may stand indirect line lo the earliest, lost, pile weavings that have apparently vanished from the archaeological record.

98 RETHINKING KERMAN

A New Look at Some Safavid Carpets Murray L. Eiland Jr. Over twenty years ago May Beattie broke new ground in providing a clear structural basis for her definition of the Vase Carpet group. Are-assessment ofher classification has long been overdue, and here the author proposes extending membership of the group by attributing to the same Kerman workshops a range of more finely woven Safavid carpets. 104 THE TURKMEN WEDDING

Robert Pinner Turkic wedding traditions prescribed an extended period of courtship and marriage ceremonial, sometimes followed by enforced separation of the couple and a time of secret meetings. For Turkmen women the occasion called forth their highest skills in the preparation of a range of embroidered and woven textiles for use in the complex ritual processions and ceremonies.

108 FEEDING THE EARTH & THE

ANCESTORS Chuspa Rituals and the Coca Cidt in the Pre-Columbian Andes Vanessa Drake Moraga Used tothis day to ease the stress of high-altitude living, coca has been valued and revered in Andean culture for hundreds of years. Spanish chroniclers confirm that it was one of a number of sacred plants, associated with magical rites and sacrificial offerings. Among the ritual accessories involved in coca use were the small bags or ch 'uspa inwhich the coca leaf was carried. As objects that were sacred by association, these pouches were woven with designs of great symbolic richness.