HALIThe International Magazine o f Antique Carpet and Textile Art

Editor Daniel Shaffer Deputy Editor J i l l Tilden Assistant Editor Nicholas Purdon Editorial Archivist & Librarian Rachel Evans

Consultant Editors Michael Franses, Robert Pinner Contributing Editors Ju lia M. Bailey, Alberto Boralevi Steven Cohen, Thomas Cole Rosemary Cri 11, Herbert Exner Anthony Hazledine, Rina M. Indictor Ralph Kaffel, Donald King Alberto Levi, DeWitt Mallary John Mills, Vanessa Moraga Thomas Murray, Aaron Nejad Penny Oakley, Jam es W. Reid Maria Schlatter, Philippa Scott Carlo Maria Suriano, Parviz Tanavoli John T. Wertime

Art Director Liz Dixon Art Editor Anderida Hatch

Publisher Sebastian Ghandchi

Advertisement Manager Christiane Di Re Senior Advertisement Executive Conrad Shouldice Advertisement Executives Ralph Emmerson, Mark Harbour Advertisement Co-ordinator Angharad Britton

Projects & Promotions Manager Piers Clemett

Subscriptions Manager Ashley Spinks

Publisher’s Assistant & Office Manager Dorisse Akufo-Addo Distribution Manager Marc Thomas Database & Circulation Consultant Veronica Purdey Receptionist Zobida Khan

Hali Publications Limited Kingsgate House, Kingsgate Place London NW6 4TA, UK Telephone (4 4 1 7 1 ) 3 2 8 9 3 4 1 F ax (4 4 1 7 1 ) 3 7 2 5 9 2 4 E-mail hab@centaur.co.uk A Member of The Centaur Communications Limited Group

HALI89

THE COVER Inc a imperial tapestry tunic (detail), highland Peru, ca . 1 4 4 0 1 5 5 0 AD. CameUd fibre weft, cotton warp, 0 . 7 6 x 0 .9 1m ( 2 ’6" x 3 '0 " ) . Among the Inc a tapestry was reserved for the highest quality textiles, often tunics. Of these, this is the only known example that is royal in quality. Not only is it exceptionally fine, but the entire body is decorated with small, rectangular design units called t ’o q a p u . In an illustrated manuscript from the time of the Spanish conquest, only Inca rulers are shown in such all- t ’o q a p u tunics. The meanings of these designs are not known. More than twenty patterns are repeated in the tunic, one of which is a recognisable depiction of another type of Inca tunic, with a black-and-white chequered body and, at the neck, a stepped triangle of vivid red. It is not known why this type, which appears more often than any other design in the tunic, was selected for miniaturised representation. Most of the rest of the C o q apu designs are unique. Acquired by Robert Bliss before 1 9 5 4 . Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, inv.no. B -5 1 8 .

Issue 89

65 E D IT O R IA L HALI readers air their views.

67 L E T T E R S

Unexpected encounter on the French Riviera; heartfelt advice on carpet care; a call for Islamic bibliographies.

6 9 F R A G M E N T S

Adventurous Austrian ruggies brave the elements in Graz; a Zoffany style Ushak; Gabbeh by any other name; new Far Eastern focus at Royal Museum of Scotland; bugs threatened with oxygen starvation; reopening the Raphael room.

73 F O R U M

The Cleveland Museum of Art has acquired a magnificent princely silk costume over a thousand years old. The combination of Chinese and Sogdian silks and the Tibetan provenance reflect, says Ann Wardwell, the power and status of Tibet in the period of the early kings. George O’Bannon looks at the knotty problem of attribution for the wave of antique rugs that have recently emerged from the republics of Central Asia.

78 D R A G O N D UM S O F D A G H E S TA N

Paul Ramsey

The author looks at a group of rare Daghestan flatweaves, tracing their stylised S and reverse S designs back to the early

‘dragon’ carpets, and beyond that to Chinese dragon forms.

84 F O R M & R H Y T H M A n c ie n t A n d e a n T e x t i le s a t D u m b a r to n O a k s

Carol Callaway & Susan Bergh

Pioneer pre-Columbian collector Robert Woods Bliss spent five decades filling Dumbarton Oaks, his Washington home, with objects and textiles of the Andean civilisations. Among the highlights of his collection are an imperial Inca tunic and a mantle from the Paracas necropolis.

92 T H E H E A D G A R D E N E R ’S C A R P E T S

Deborah Kraak

Winterthur Museum’s extensive collection of American and European decorative arts includes a substantial number of carpets, acquired to decorate the many period rooms in which the furniture and other artefacts are displayed. Among these are both classical oriental rugs and decorative revival pieces.

94 G U IZ H O U B L U E T h e T r a d i t i o n a l U s e o f I n d i g o in

S o u th w e s t C h in a

Jenny Balfour-Paul

With traditional craft skills rapidly disappearing everywhere, the author continues to seek out areas in which age-old indigo dyeing techniques are still practised. She finds that in China’s remote and mountainous Ghuizou Province, ethnic minorities who have no written language continue to show great skill and commitment to indigo production, while indigo-dyed clothes are still the norm both for ceremonial and everyday use.

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100 H I S T O R IC T E X T IL E S IN

B R U N SW IC K

Donald King

The town of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony is home to a museum whose textile collection has a powerful historic resonance, evoking the wealth and influence of the Catholic