May 15 2007
Betsy Murphy Reports from Istanbul on the Latest ICOC
Written by Betsy Murphy
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
The annual meeting of the International Conference on Oriental Carpets is always an exciting event, but when it is held in Istanbul, one of the most exotic and romantic cities in Europe, and a center of carpet production and commerce for the past five hundred years or more, ICOC is simply “carpet heaven.†I stayed in the lovely Sultanahment district, the oldest part of the Ottoman city, where there were a number of related exhibitions. The TIEM (Turk ve Islam Eserleri Muzesi) mounted a spectacular show of early carpets from the Seljuk period, as well as various other oversize court carpets, Ushaks, etc. It was simply divine. The TIEM also put up an amazing selection of Ikats from the collection of Mehmet Cetinkaya. The Vakiflar Museum had two exhibitions of their incredible collection of early rugs as well, one on pile carpets, and one just for kilims. In conjunction with all this the Yildiz Palace held a memorial exhibition of kilims from the personal collection of the renowned expert Josephine Powell, who passed away last March.
However, wonderful all these official events may have been, the world-famous carpet dealers of Istanbul were not to be outdone. Understandably, there was a strong contingent of Turks at the Dealers’ Fair, but there were some Europeans and a few Americans as well. For me the high point here was the outstanding exhibition of Turkmen rugs presented by Seref Ozen of Istanbul’s Cocoon Gallery. For the really serious carpet enthusiasts, there was a wonderful program of lectures held at the Swiss Hotel, including a presentation by the pioneer scholar on Turkish village weaving and founder of Project DOBAG, Rainer Bohmer. What ever the nature of your interest in rugs, there was really something for everyone this year, and with the magic of Istanbul itself as the final ingredient, it was just about the best ICOC ever.
