Contents 12

In this issue Issue Autumn

Compass Editorial Ahead of the Orient Stars sale in Wiesbaden, there has been a dramatic last-minute twist

Dialogue and Calendar A mystery solved; a $25 million endowment from an anonymous donor to Denver Art Museum; Konya kilims for sale; the Great Mongol Shahnama; Gottoman ottomans; Mingei International Museum reopens in San Diego; The Royal School of Needlework launches the RSN Stitch Bank; auction listings

Diary Auctions, exhibitions and events from around the globe

Thread of time Two textiles associated with diplomacy

Travellers’ tales Chloë Sayer An homage to spinners, weavers and embroiderers in the northern highlands of Puebla State, Mexico

P r o fi l e Tom Cole The late Cathryn Cootner—collector, dealer, author, lecturer and former curator of textiles at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Comment Kate Fitz Gibbon Unpicking the legal, cultural and moral issues raised by new US legislation preventing the import of certain artefacts from Turkey

Anatomy of an object Kristal Hale A striking taqueté fragment yields clues to the progress of weaving development along the Silk Road

Common thread Crocodiles make regular appearances on textiles across the world, conveying messages of power and potency, danger and devotion

Features Nomadic visions Michael Rothberg A California-based collector expands on a superlative exhibition of antique pile bags and trappings in a new book

Mastery in all media Jane Audas A Tate Modern exhibition in London shows Sophie Taeuber-Arp was so much more than a leading light of abstract painting

Illuminated by the loom Michele Valentine At the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, a new exhibition showcases Asian textile masterpieces

Domestic experience in sharp focus A 19th-century sampler in the V&A collection reveals an embroiderer’s harrowing experiences

Daghestan star Michael Franses A mysterious and enigmatic double-weave carpet