Originating from late 16th-century Egypt, this fine piece displays a circular medallion in a green field accented by navy blue and earthy red flora. Bursting from a blue interior into a brilliant red, green, and gold blossom, the guards represent quartered copies of the central medallion. The exquisite composition and style of this piece along with its well-preserved condition make it a rare and valuable addition to the Nazmiyal Collection.
Early 17th & 18th century rugs have received yet another affirmation to their rapidly increasing demand and value. Among the many items up for auction at Christie’s (November 24th auction) were numerous carpets from the 17th and the 18th century. It has long been argued by people in the antique rug trade that these pieces are grossly undervalued, but now there is strong evidence that these carpets will continue to sell for increasingly larger amounts of money for years to come. As time goes by – this caliber of carpets will become even more scarce, fueling the drive of private customers and collectors alike to acquire these magnificent works of art. During the Christie’s auction, we saw lots selling for double, triple and even exceeding their highest estimates, (which were strong to begin with, for example: Lot 130 & 129). This trend seems to be indicative of the future for these carpets, but only time will tell.
With a global economy in turmoil, conflicts raging in the Middle East and Africa, poverty and global warming, we, as a people, are facing serious challenges. During the recent US elections, America has demonstrated its belief in the “audacity of hope”. We have made a historic decision to leave behind the divisive identities that have so far kept us from working together for a common purpose. We have affirmed that the things that unite us are far more important than the issues that separate us from one another, and that to meet the challenges ahead, America must look to the future rather than the past.
On the cover of this week’s NY Magazine, Michelle Obama, Sasha, Malia, and the new hypoallergenic puppy are all grouped above one of our pieces“ a French Aubusson carpet of the First Empire period. We must note that their busy schedule did not allow them to pose above the actual carpet. The picture was achieved as a ‘Photoshop’ montage (art must sometimes take liberties in the quest for elegance) but the result is what counts!
In the new year of 2009, with an optimistic spirit, we will have the youngest First Family in the White House in more than two generations. We at Nazmiyal Collection would like to wish the President Elect, his family, and all our clients, friends and associates health, success, and prosperity for the upcoming holiday!
We are currently in the midst of a major revival of traditional, hand-made rug weaving virtually throughout the rug-producing regions of the world. This movement began several decades ago in Turkey, initially at the instigation of European rug aficionados like Rainer Boehmer. Known by the acronym DOBAG, or Project DOBAG, the goal was not only to reproduce more authentically the range of designs current in Turkish weaving up through the nineteenth century, but to do so in handspun, vegetable-dyed wool. While it took a few years for weavers to recover the knack of using handspun fibers and combining the varying shades of color inherent to vegetable dyes, the results were impressive and they began to sweep the new rug market. Soon weavers were producing vegetable-dyed, handspun copies or close adaptations of various nineteenth century rugs types in Afghanistan, India, China, and Iran. By the late nineteen nineties, such production had become standard, largely supplanting the less authentic design trends and synthetic dyes that had come to dominate oriental rug weaving throughout the twentieth century. Consequently, it now seems to many potential rug buyers that they no longer need to go to the expense of buying an antique rug. Nowadays it is possible to acquire new rugs with the same sort of color, design, wool quality, and technical standards of the ones produced a hundred years ago or earlier in perfect condition for a fraction of the price. But is this really the case? Are new rugs of this sort really the equivalent of the ones they are copying or recreating?
The answer depends on how closely one looks, or, to put it differently, how discriminating a buyer one is. For the vast majority of rug buyers, new rugs will suffice. In fact, many new rug buyers made be satisfied with machine-made rugs. Certainly, customers looking for quality modern design rugs will inevitably be drawn to new production pieces. But for those who enjoy traditional oriental carpets in Persian style, or pieces of tribal and nomadic type, the pieces that are currently being produced will only meet their needs to a point. There is more to a rug than the specific configuration of its design, and while the use of handspun wool and vegetable dyes may recover traditional techniques, there is no substitute for the effects of time. What new rugs can never recreate, however well-made they may be, is the cultural milieu in which they were produced, the environment and experience that directly governed the weaver’s approach to pattern and design. And new rugs, so long as they are new, cannot have the delicate patination of the color and the polished surface that give antique rugs so much of the appearance for which they are prized. That only comes with time.
Let us expand a bit on these last two points. Cultural milieu or experience is extremely difficult to quantify and explain, but there can be no doubt that this is what imparted so much of the distinctive character that antique rugs still project to a discerning viewer. Rug weaving and design were an integral part of the culture of the people who made them up until the early twentieth century. Rug weaving was analogous to the traditional music of their culture or to their literature and mythology. It was part of their cultural or social structure, Today little of that culture remains intact as a living phenomenon, It has been supplanted by a new cultural outlook permeated by western conceptions arriving via film, TV, and the internet. The people making rugs today no longer think and observe the way their ancestors did. Consequently they can never produce traditional culture as a living, creative activity in the manner of their forebears. They can attempt to replicate it for commercial purposes, and they may even come remarkably close, but it can never really be the same. That is why a discriminating rug enthusiast cannot be satisfied by a new rug. There is a certain quality of life that affected the way old rugs were designed and made that cannot be recaptured today.
In the same way the passage of time affects rugs materially or physically. This is not always a good thing. Rugs wear down over the years. They can be affected by dryness and damp. They can become damaged and in need of repair. But over time antique rugs that have been properly cared for also acquire qualities that are admired and prized. Unlike many of the synthetic colors that came into use in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, natural vegetable dyes are remarkably resistant to fading, but they do soften or mellow a bit, especially at the tips of the fibers of the pile. This “patina†effects the play of light on the surface, varying the appearance of the colors, making them more translucent, and imparting a quality of depth, especially in conjunction with the irregular textures of high-quality handspun wool. Even a certain amount of wear is desirable. The shorter the pile, the crisper the design appears to be. The slow wearing of the pile also polishes it, making it even more lustrous and velvety. Only time can confer this gracefulness of age, as one may put it.
All the special qualities that make antique rugs desirable create market demand, which, in turn, intersects with rarity and availability to establish market price. Antique rugs are more expensive than new rugs because their number is finite, and because it becomes increasingly difficult to supply demand as rugs are purchased and disappear into private collection. Those who can appreciate the qualities and distinctions outlined above have long known that they must be willing to pay for them competitively, hence the higher price of antique rugs. But there is a silver lining here, so to speak. Antique rugs hold their value and even appreciate over time. If properly maintained by their owners, they can easily be resold or traded in against a new purchase. They are an investment, like any other fine antique or a piece of real estate. New rugs offer no such opportunity. They may someday be prized as antiques; only time will tell. But the day after they are purchased, they are worth considerably less than they were before. In my opinion, the pleasure that an antique rug offers to an informed and appreciative viewer makes it well worth the price. But when one takes into account the investment potential of a fine antique rug, the reasons to acquire one increase dramatically. Even those who are indifferent to the aesthetic qualities of antique rugs can see the financial advantage in acquiring them. But for those who can appreciate their beauty, antique rugs make a far more desirable and useful investment than a stock portfolio.
One of the great commonplaces of the rug market is the supposed distinction between antique rugs of the sort sought after by collectors and those that appeal to clients who are primarily interested in decorating their homes or offices. This sweeping distinction involves a range of underlying oppositions – the difference between the design traditions used in village or tribal weaving and those used in urban rug production, the difference between small rugs and trappings versus larger or room-sized rugs, a rich and varied palette versus one that is cooler and more limited, and a knowledgeable interest in the rare and esoteric as opposed to a desire for what is simply beautiful or attractive.
Antique rug collectors come off as scholars more or less, endowed to one degree or another with a learned historical perspective. They tend to approach rugs from the vantage of ethnography. They are interested in tribal or regional distinctions and the place of a given piece in a larger development. They want pieces made for local use, which they see as authentic, in opposition to rugs made simply for commercial export. They tend to acquire pieces of scatter size or smaller that typified village and tribal weaving, where larger rugs were less common. Collectors accept and admire the often quirky or wild design sensibility and coloration of tribal and village rugs.
Decorative rug enthusiasts, on the other hand are interested in acquiring ornamental floor coverings that work within a larger, coordinated system or plan of interior furnishing. Consequently, they tend toward rugs that are bigger, whose designs and coloration are more subdued or less obtrusive, and therefore capable of blending in more easily with their surroundings. Since rugs of this size tended to be made in urban-centered workshops, it was the more sophisticated oriental design tradition of the cities that became synonymous with the notion of the decorative rugs and the taste they appeal to. Owners of decorative rugs are also assumed not to be immediately concerned with the historical development or rarity of the pieces they acquire, but primarily with their visual appeal. Continue Reading »
We are pleased to announce that Jason NAZMIYAL was asked to participate in a panel discussion at the New York Historical Society. This stimulating panel discussion about antique rugs and carpets, From Tibet to Timbuktu and the Art of Collecting Fine Rugs and Textiles was moderated by the pillar of the New York rug scene, Mary Jo Otsea, who has long headed the rug and carpet department at Sotheby’s New York. Jason represented the community of rug-dealers, while rug collectors and the professionals who advise them were represented by Judith Glass and long time collector Kurt Munkacsi respectively. The discussion was lively and informative, and touched upon a wide range of issues relevant to building an important collection. Why one collects, what one collects, how one recognizes what makes a piece desirable or important are all pressing issues for collectors. But what emerged most from the discussion was the very special and symbiotic relationship that exists among those who collect and dealers and advisors who facilitate their collecting passions. Collectors have more in common with dealers than they think, when it comes time to sell or de-acquisition a piece, and dealers often buy like collectors, not simply for profit but with their hearts,Continue Reading »
This past week, one of the most outstanding textiles in the Nazmiyal Collection, a splendid antique Kashmir shawl of the eighteenth century, went on display at New York’s Asia Society as part of a special exhibition, “The Arts of Kashmir.” This exhibition represents a major international effort involving loans from collections all over the world. It is the first major exhibition entirely devoted to the arts of Kashmir from late antiquity up to the present time, covering media of every kind. Continue Reading »
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.
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