HALIThe International Magazine of Antique Carpet and Textile Art
Editor Daniel Shaffer Deputy Editor Jill Tilden Assistant Editors Nicholas Purdon, Sheila Scott Editorial Archivist & Librarian Rachel Howells Picture Librarian John Stroud
Chief Contributing Editor Robert Pinner Contributing Editors Julia Bailey, Alberto Boralevi Steven Cohen, Thomas Cole Rosemary Crill. Michael Franses Anthony Hazledine. Rina Indictor Ralph Kaffel, Donald King DeWitt Mallary, John Mills Thomas Murray, Penny Oakley James W. Reid, Maria Schlatter Philippa Scott, Carlo Maria Suriano Parviz Tanavoli, John Wertime
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HALI BO
CONTENTS
Issue 80, Volume 17, Number 2
THE COVER Shapur I. Jozan pictorial rug, Arak region, west Persia, late 19th century. Wool pile on a cotton foundation, 1.11 x 1.53m (3 8" x 5 0"). Details of the hair, crown, pose anti the monumental effect of the imposing central figure in this fine, symmetrically knotted rug, bear a striking resemblance to the equivalent features on the large statue of the Sasanid king Shapur I (r.241272 AD) discovered in a cave near Kazerun in Ears Province, southwest Persia. This is arguably the most successful known execution of a not uncommon pictorial rug theme. The weavers of Jozan justifiably enjoy the reputation of producing the finest rugs in the Arak (Sultanabad) area. Though Jozan is geographically considered part of Malayer Province, its proximity to Saruq results in a close similarity of its rug designs to those of the better known Saruq region.
67 EDITORIAL Has a politically correct agenda replaced care of the object in American Museums?
69 LETTERS
John Wertime springs to the defence of the Washington Textile
Museum; an assessment of the Vakiflar conservation programme; the Baluch literature; a word on etymology.
73 FRAGMENTS Twenty years on, work resumes at Qatal Hiiyiik; a closely observed Karagashli; Montezuma’s return; an Egyptian symposium; end of the road for old rugs.
77 FORUM
Is an open and legal trade policy the best solution to the vexed question of archaeological antiquities? From rugges to tapetology —carpet terminology past, present and future.
82 ZIEGLER S CARPET CARTOONS
Aimette lttig
Ziegler and Co. was the first Western firm to organise an Iran-
based carpet production and export operation. This article locuses on a group of decorative carpets designed and produced at their agency in Sultanabad, using archival material compiled by the first manager of the agency.
88 A CELEBRATION OF THE
HUMAN FIGURE
Parviz Tanavoli
The rise ol a pictorial tradition in Qajar Iran marked a radical break with prevailing Islamic artistic genres. The movement was nurtured both by the powerful images associated with Iran’s rediscovery of its own pre-Islamic past, and a growing openness to Western technology and figurative traditions.
98 ROYAL EXPOSURE
Parviz Tanavoli
Continuing the discussion in the previous article, the author focuses here specifically on the influence of photography 011
Iranian artists and weavers during the rise of the pictorial movement in Persian carpet art.
102 THE ARDABIL CARPET
The Early Repairs
Jennifer Wearden
Bv the time the Ardabil carpet entered the South Kensington Museum in 1893 it had already been in the hands ol restorers. Later comparisons led to accusations that its pair, now' in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, had been ‘cannibalised’
in order to repair the London carpet. The authorexamines the nature and extent ol these early repairs.
108 EXHIBITIONS Jacqueline Simeox looks al ‘One Thousand Years ol Chinese
Textiles', opening in Hong Kong in June; Ignazio Vok's suzanis go 0 11 display near Padua; Princeton University Libraries show Islamic manuscripts; Anatolian carpets and kilims from the collection of Rainer Kreissl in Prague; ikat coats at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Dutch heraldic carpet cushions at the Rijksmuseum; Byzantine art in Utrecht; Native American textiles from Oklahoma at the TM; Treasures of the Czars in Florida; Armenian art at Bochum; Amerindian featherwork from the Antes Collection in Cologne.