May
07
2008
Antique Kilims have had their ups and downs in the rug market. Once upon a time they were considered unfit for export. More a utilitarian item of daily life than a folk craft practiced for commercial profit, kilims had always been intended for domestic use rather than sale in foreign lands. The few fragmentary pieces that arrived in the West were used as wrappings to bail pile rugs. But as Westerners interested in Oriental rugs began to travel more in Turkey and the Caucasus, kilims gradually became known to collectors in Europe and America, and eventually they came to be appreciated for the masterpieces of village weaving that they are. Though produced in a simpler flatwoven tapestry technique, antique kilims represent an impressive rage of designs from the very small to the monumental (nos. 699, 3402, and 489). For sheer graphic force and quality of color, nothing can beat a good antique Turkish or Anatolian kilim. The only antique pile rugs that achieved such effects are the most sought after types of Caucasian Kazaks or the best Turkish village rugs (41428). Continue Reading »
Popularity: 3% [?]
Nov
12
2007
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 »
Popularity: 100% [?]
May
15
2007
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.
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 29% [?]
Dec
22
2006
Written by David Castriota
Friday, 22 December 2006
Collectors are a special breed of rug enthusiast. While they are motivated fundamentally by a “passion for rugs” and the world that produces them, their interest tends to inordinately intense, knowledgeable, and idiosyncratic. There is no telling what particular set of concerns and objectives will motivate an individual collector, but every collector has such a unique motivation along with a huge store of knowledge accumulated over the years. Collectors literally see rugs differently from other people. They look at rugs creatively, through the lens of knowledge, in a way that allows them to see past problems of condition or damage in order to appreciate the artistic worth of a great piece. At times they are not motivated by the immediate impression that the rug may make, but rather by its uniqueness or its historical importance. In the latter regard, collectors depart substantially from the great majority of rug users and enthusiasts.
Popularity: 7% [?]
