Contents 12

In this issue Issue 194 Winter 2017

106

Compass 21Editorial Ben Evans reflects on the serendipitous synchronicity of being in the right place at the right time

29Dialogue HALI 194: The China Edition; ICOC XIV; Peter Pap’s ‘Artful Weavings’; ‘Sanctuary’— contemporary prayer rugs; Istanbul Carpet Week; ‘Textiles of the Nile Valley’ conference in Antwerp; a Wyndham Lewis silk robe; California Oriental Rug Collectors’ Meeting

32Diary HALI’s pick of the best international fairs, exhibitions and auctions at the start of 2018

35Calendar Worldwide listings for the next quarter

36Thread of time Rachel Meek A May Morris embroidery and a Yongzhengperiod Chinese carpet were at the height of fashion when they were exhibited in the 1910s

38Travellers’ tales Thomas Murray HALI’ s peripatetic correspondent enjoys a week in Hong Kong packed with richly varied Asian textile and tribal art delights

43Profile Professor Wang Xuancheng is one of the few collectors of carpets in northwestern China

45In memoriam Jon Thompson Thompson remembers his friend and colleague Dr Harald Böhmer, a pioneering student of natural dyes and Anatolian nomadism

47Comment Michael Franses Clarifying the labelling of two silks from the collection of the Hermitage in St Petersburg

48Anatomy of an object A structural uniformity is disguised by apparent randomness on a late Ming-period Chinese carpet in the Beijing Palace Museum

Features 62Articles of faith Sandra Whitman A study of the celebrated monastic ‘pillar carpets’ of China alongside other types of pile rugs used for Buddhist temple decoration

76To have and to hold A recent gift of small nomadic weavings is on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum, best known for its grand ‘classical’ carpets

80Textile voyage Thomas Murray An outstanding example of one of the most iconic of all Indonesian textiles: the double red ship palepai of the Paminggir people of Sumatra in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum

82A Persian weaving legacy A collection of Persian tribal rugs and kilims on show for the first time at the China (Qinghai) International Carpet Exhibition in Xining in June may be a catalyst in the development of a wider interest in traditional carpets in the world’s largest potential market