MALI

CONTENTS

Issue 65 Volume 14, Number 5 October 1992

Publisher & Editor

Alan Marcuson Associate Publisher Sebastian Ghandchi

Deputy Editor Daniel Shaffer Senior Editors Maria Schlatter. Jill Tilden

Assistant Editor

Jennifer Gill Editorial Co-ordinator

Judy Hirsh Chief Contributing Editors Tan Bennett. Robert P inner

Contributing Editors Alberto Boralevi. Steven Cohen Rosemary Grill. Michael Franses

Donald King. DeWitt Mallary

John Mills. Thomas Murray James W.Reid, Philippa Scott Parviz Tanavoli, John Wertime

Picture Librarian

John Stroud

Art Director

IAz Dixon Art Editor Anderida Hatch

International Advertisement

Manager Julie Wicks Advertisement Executives

Susanna Babington. Michelina Drohomireska Advertisement Co-ordinator

Lara Zunino

Subscriptions Manager

& Administration Barbara Schneider Publisher's Assistant

Wendy Kasabian Distribution Manager

Marc Thomas Systems Manager Veronica Purdey

Receptionist Zobida Khan

German Supplement Editor

Maria Schlatter Translators Dorrit Dunn, Susarme Mattern

HALI ETYMON Ffah. the Turkish word for carpet, has survived unchanged for over 1,000 years. Its ancient Turkish, classical Persian and Ottoman forms are phonetically identical to modern Turkish. In modem Farsi, classical Persian and Ottoman Turkish script. hah is represented by the same

Arabic letters.

63 E D IT O R IA L 64 L E T T E R S

Our revieic o f Through the ( Collector’s Eye sparks controversy; Zeikhur—the 'cross' and the 'a lp an ' designs; precedence in Shahsavan studies. 73 FRAGM EN TS

Photographing the London Ardabil - the most famous carpet in the world brushes up its press image; Herbert floorer's Paracas mantle; rest or © requiem for the I akiflar kilims? Rustam cooks a wild ass and we tell the tale of two barbecues. 81 EORUM

Paintings on a 2 ,300 year old Greek rase reveal an Olympian pecking order - senior deities enjoy the luxury o f fin e textiles while Pan reclines on a rug; an embroidered Ming court vest a t the Asian . 1/7 Museum in San Francisco provides generous clues about its original wearer. 84 CONNOISSEUR’S CH O IC E

Narrow strips o f cloth are used to build a mazelike block pattern in this characteristic cotton ceremonial hanging from Sierra Leone, the choice o f west 1frican textile specialist I eriice Lamb. 86 C A R P E T D IP LOM A CY

An editorial report on a significant first with a prominent sub-text - June's Tehran carpet conference and exhibition tour ranged through spectacular landscapes, extreme frustration, the biggest carpet exhibition ever staged, a muddled and over-crowded lecture programme, and. perhaps most strikingly, the strong desire of Iranians to look amicably to the II est. 96 T H E Q U ED L IN BU RG C A R P E T

Leonie von Wilckons In the opening years o f the 13th century the nave and choir o f Chartres Cathedral were slowly rising in northern France, in Ita ly Dante Alighieri was beginning his great poem The D iv ine Comedy, and in Lower Saxony Abbess Agnes of Quedlinburg was overseeing the making of an elaborate pile carpet dedicated to S t Servatius, patron saint o f the collegiate church, depicting scenes from a popular Roman allegory, the Marriage o f Mercury and Philologia. 106 ASAEO!

The flags o f the warrior companies of the west African Fante people convey strong, often aggressive messages - threatening, insulting, boasting using proverbs and historical allusions to talk smart, as seen in extracts and images from Peter Adler and Nicholas Barnard's new book.

IIALI 65