HALITheInternationalMagazineof Antique Carpet and TextileArt

Editor Daniel Shaffer Deputy Editor Jill Tilden Assistant Editors Nicholas Purdon, Sheila Scott Editorial Archivist & L ibrarian Rachel Evans P ic tu re L ibrarian John Stroud

Consultant Editors Michael Franses, Alan Marcuson Robert Pinner Contributing Editors Julia M. Bailey, Alberto Boralevi Steven Cohen, Thomas Cole Rosemary Crill, Anthony Hazledine Rina M. Indictor, Ralph Kaffel Donald King, Alberto Levi DeWitt Mallary, John Mills Vanessa Moraga, Thomas Murray Penny Oakley, James W. Reid Maria Schlatter, Philippa Scott Carlo Maria Suriano, Parviz Tanavoli John T. Wertime

Art D irector Liz Dixon Art Editor Anderida Hatch

P roduction Manager Liz Jobling

Publisher Sebastian Ghandchi

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HAU 83

CONTENTS Issue 83, Volume 17, Number 5

THE COVER Shield carpet, east T ranscaucasia, Shirvan area (?), 18th century o r earlier. Wool pile on a silk foundation, 1 .58 x 2 .49m (5'2" x 8 '2"). The main feature of this carpet is the heraldic rows of offset trilobed medallions (fleurons) fram ed by pairs of serrated-edged leaves which occupy two thirds o f the held. Each shield contains a rectangle with pairs o f affronted birds flanked by two cypresses topped by a th ird with a bird perched at the top. At one end, and probably form erly the o ther (the carpet is incomplete), the space is filled with stylised flowers and banners. This carpet, together with a similar piece in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, is generally thought to he the doyenne of a group that was tlioroughy classified by Robert P inner and Michael Franses in 1978 (HALI 1/1, pp.4-22). The zoomorphic ornaments are absent from la te r pieces. The design of the held and border, and the tribal nature o f the shield motifs recall certain Turkmen weavings. The carpet’s precise place of m anufacture rem ains open to discussion. While it shares the silk foundation o f la te r Daghestan p rayer rugs, a workshop in the Shirvan o r Azerbaijan regions should not be ruled out. Musee des arts decoratifs, Paris, Beshiktash purchase 1894, inv.no. 7823.

59 EDITORIAL How in ihe summer of 1995 a newly formed textile society summoned scholars and aficionados from around the world to attend a remarkable Chinese textile fiesta in Hong Kong.

61 LETTERS The role of Jewish weavers in medieval Spain; clarifying structure and technique; further Baluch reading; the valleys of the Arequipa; Wilfried Stanzer’s considered response to criticism of the Moroccan conference; a question of dating.

65 FRAGMENTS Teaching the value of tradition at VITA; the art of the Mongols under scrutiny in Edinburgh; a cotton draped Peruvian mummy; a Belle Epoque Timuri rug; rebuilding in Golden

Gate Park; the Asian Art Museum’s Green Tara.

69 FORUM

When a textile is presented for conservation, what changes does its owner/curator hope to see, and what guiding criteria determine the treatment the conservator follows? Jacqueline Herald and Mary Brooks of the TCC, Hampton Court, debate the ethical and practical issues. Plus a look at the complex project undertaken by Japanese textile specialists Tatsumura, who spent almost three years researching and reproducing a replica of a Flemish tapestry, much altered during its years of use in the Nagahama Festival.

76 CONTINUITY AND CHANGE A Baluch Community in the Murghah Valley

Jon Thompson

During a visit to a Baluch community in Krasnoye Znantava the author finds that the weaving traditions of an isolated Baluch community in Turkmenia have changed little since their migration from Sistan in the last century.

80 PATTERNS OF PATRONAGE Classical Carpets in the Bargello Museum

Carlo Maria Suriano The famous Bargello Museum in Florence, Italy, has a significant but almost unknown collection of earlv textiles, most of which are kept in store, as well as a group of classical carpets on permanent display. The first of two articles focuses on the museum’s small group of Ottoman period classical carpets, asking what light a fresh reading of the evidence, both internal and external, might shed on the history and development of the major design types represented.

88 CHINESE TEXTILES Technique, Design and Patterns of Use From Cinderella to Diva in one season, Chinese textiles have definitely been invited to the ball. An editorial compilation from a medley of correspondents’ reports on the stimulating academic programme offered at the Textile Society of

Hong Kong’s inaugural international conference.

94 SMOOTH AS SILK

Don Colin

A kaleidoscope of silk in a tour-leader’s view of an intense fortnight’s peregrination through China's major weaving centres and institutions, supplemented by the opportunity to sightsee while sampling the mixed pleasures of the open market and Chinese culinary excellence.

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