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