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HALTTheInternational Magazine of Antique Carpet and Textile Art I s s u e 9 4 Editor Daniel Shaffer Deputy Editor Jill Tilden Senior Editor Nicholas Purdon Editorial Archivist & Librarian Rachel Evans Assistant Editor (G erman liaison) Jenny Marsh Editorial Assistant Emily Roberts Consultant Editors Michael Franses, Robert Pinner Contributing Editors Julia Bailey, Alberto Boralevi John Carswell, Steven Cohen Thomas Cole, Rosemary Crill Susan Day, Murray Eiland Jr Herbert Exner, Anthony Hazledine Rina Indictor, Ralph Kaffel Alan Kennedy, Donald King DeWitt Mallary, John Mills Vanessa Moraga, Thomas Murray Penny Oakley, Carlo Maria Suriano Wendel Swan, Parviz Tanavoli John Wertime Art D irector Liz Dixon Art Editor Anderida Hatch Publisher Sebastian Ghandchi Commercial Manager Andy Powell Advertisement Manager Angharad Britton Deputy Advertisement Manager Conrad Shouldice Senior Advertisement Executive Ralph Emmerson Advertisement Executive Rosario Canade P ro jects & P romotions Manager Piers Clemett Subscriptions Manager Ashley Spinks Publisher’s Assistant & Office Manager Dorisse Akufo-Addo D istribution Assistant Chris Armstrong Database & Circulation Consultant Veronica Purdey Receptionist Zobida Khan Hali Pubhcations Limited Kingsgate House, Kingsgate Place London NW6 4TA, UK Telephone (44 171) 328 9341 Fax (44 1 7 1 )3 7 2 5924 E-mail hab@ centaur.co.uk A Member of The Centaur Communications Limited Group HALI 94 THE COVER Silk samite fragment with confronting stags (detail), Sogdia, 7th century AD. 36.5 x 52.5cm (1'2" x 1'9"). While most Sasanian silk roundels contain a single b ird or beast, the Sogdians preferred confronting pairs, as in this splendid pair of red stags within a circle with vegetal motifs. Finely woven in vivid colours, and in an astonishing state of preservation after untold centuries in storage in Tibet, this silk shares many features with Sasanian silk textiles, including the rosette between the heads of the stags which is reminiscent of the motif that occurs between the roundels of the ‘Pheasant’ samite belonging to the Abbey of Notre Dame de Jouarre, near Paris. Abegg-Stiftung, Riggisberg, inv.no. 4901. 53 EDITORIAL Anticipating an Indian autumn; a safe home for early silks. 55 LETTERS A rallying ciy for the open-minded - James Opie resists the embrace of new orthodoxies; Edmund de Linger remembers May Beattie’s role in a landmark carpet exhibition; Raoul Tschebull and those damn Heriz dates again. 57 FRAGMENTS Jacobean interiors at Chastleton and a facelift for Hardwick Hall; the Asian Civilisations Museum opens in Singapore; Tbilisi joins the international symposium circuit. 59 FORUM What do a uniquely famous Turkish prayer rug, found in Venice and linked forever with a German art historian and an Austrian artist, and the Empress Sissi have in common? They may be ensis but are they Saryk? —a closer look at Neil Moran’s 1884 ABC watercolour; para-Mamluk postscript; as DOB AG celebrates its 15th anniversary, HALI joins the party in the weaving villages in western Anatolia. 68 WHITE GIANTS Carpets o f the Beni Ouarain and Related Moroccan Nomadic Tribes Gebhart Blazek In design and colour this distinctive group of outsize Middle Atlas carpets stands apart from the mainstream of Moroccan weaving. The author sees in their archaic appearance a memory if not a direct link to age-old Zenata Berber weaving traditions. 75 FROM RABAT TO THE ATLAS Moroccan Carpets at the MAAO, Paris Gerard Boely & Marie-France Vivier Based on two substantial private donations, this collection of Moroccan rugs provides an anthology of types and regions. From the interplay of oriental and Berber elements in Rabat carpets to the virtuoso exuberance of High Atlas weavings, these are rugs that are both primitive and sophisticated, disciplined and free. 80 TEXTILES IN THE STATE HISTORICAL MUSEUM, MOSCOW Olga Gordeeva During its 125 years the Russian Historical Museum has attracted extensive donations of all kinds, from manuscripts and memorabilia to stamps and weapons. The textile and carpet collection alone numbers some 380,000 items. Many of them reflect the passions of a single collector, Peter Shchukin, who began by collecting Turkish and Persian textiles, went on to chronicle the influence of the East on Russian culture, and finally became absorber! in Russia’s own applied art traditions. 84 THOROUGHBREDS OF THE TURKMEN STEPPES Jasper Winn, with photographs by Paul Harris The Turkmen horse, one of the oldest and purest equine breeds, is one of the twin pillars of Turkmen culture. The other of course is rug weaving. Travelling in northern Iran, the author finds that you can’t have one without the other. 4
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S e p t e m b e r 1 9 9 7 89 EXHIBITIONS Anatolian kilim cognoscenti attended Ignazio Vok’s command performance in northern Italy; silks from Central Asia at the Abegg-Stiftung tell a tale of Silk Road trade routes and survival against the odds; a wide-ranging Coptic exhibition in Germany; the Ratti Foundation in Como exhibits velvets; Islamic textiles that have inspired later designers, plus looping and knitting and avant garde textiles at the I'M in Washington DC; the Boston Museum explores the Chinoiserie phenomenon; two great Safavid rugs at the Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, and the 125th anniversary of the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court. 101 BOOKS Steven Cohen reviews Andy Hale & Kate Fitz Gibbon’s Ikat Silks o f Central Asia. The Guido Goldman Collection; Murray L. Eiland Jr. on The Oriental Rug Lexicon by Peter Stone; Klaus-Dieter Kossow on Cyrus Parham’s Masterpieces o f Fars Rugs. 106 APPENDIX Notes, acknowledgments and supplementary information. 107 THE HALI GALLERY A distinctive advertisement section in house style. 127 MARKETPLACE NEWS Realignments at Sotheby’s; Kailash rugs to be sold at RB; a preview of autumn fairs; Nagel's 75th anniversary. 128 AUCTION REPORTS Rippon Boswell’s May sale produces their best result for some time; SLO’s upbeat Indian sale; antique textiles at Muizon in Chantilly; a pre-Columbian record at SNY. 132 AUCTION PRICE GUIDE Rippon Boswell, with high-flying Caucasian and Turkmen rugs, set the pace for May, while Mikaeloffs stock caused a flurry of excitement at Christie’s, New York. 139 GALLERIES In Munich, Anatolian rugs at Lerch and an eclectic show at Krausse; in London, embroidered textiles at Malletl, Tibetan tiger rugs at Spink’s, Joss Graham’s Indian wares and textiles of the world at Gordon Reece’s new gallery; tribal mgs at Samarkand Gallery in the Cotswolds. 142 FAIRS After a state-sponsored mg fair and ‘forum’ in Marrakesh, Brooke Pickering assesses the carpet scene in Morocco. 145 SPECIAL MARKET REPORT As dealers sign up to the World Wide Web in rapidly growing numbers, we look at the ups and downs of rugs on the Internet. 153 NETWORK A classified advertisement section. 163 CALENDAR A listing of auctions, exhibitions and fairs worldwide. 167 PARTING SHOTS DOBAG’s 15th anniversary at Stilemankoy and Orselli; ruggies in Marrakesh, Wiesbaden. Dublin Nil and Lispida. SUBSCRIPTION RATES UK: (6 issues) £62; )12 issues) £ I 15 USA: (6 issues) *1 18; (12 issues) $220 GERMANY: (6 issues) DM 190; (12 issues) DM356 Rest of EUROPE: (6 issues) £68; (12 issues) £ 121 REST OF WORID: (6 issues) £84; (12 issues) £16)1 Current and Back Issues of HALI are available. See Order Card in this issue for details. Please address all written subscription and circulation enquiries to our London Office. SUBSCRIPTIONS HOTLINE Ashley Spinks HALI London office (44 171) 328 1998 HALI is published six times a year in February, April, June, August, September and December. HALI is published by Hali Publications Limited. Company Registration No.1391142. Printed in United Kingdom. ©Worldwide, Hali Publications Limited, London 1997. ISSN 0142-0798 ©Registered in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. This periodical is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be lent, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade at a price in excess of the recommended subscription price, without the prior written permission of the publishers, Hali Publications Limited. Postmaster Please send address changes to: HALI, P.O. Box 1518, Champlain, NY 12919-1518. PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID at Champlain NY, and additional offices. P.P.I. are our USA mailing agents. Unsolicited Materials While the publishers encourage the submission of unsolicited manuscripts, authors should retain a copy of such manuscripts as well as of the illustrative material. All work, in typescript or computer printout, should be doublespaced, with wide margins. HALI accepts no responsibility for the loss of, or damage to, such material. Unless specifically requested, all photographs and materials will be retained. The publishers reserve the right to edit or precis all submitted material as they deem appropriate for publication. Worldwide copyright is held by the publishers, Hali Publications Limited. Reproduction of any text or illustration, in whole or in part, is forbidden without the publishers’ written permission. Imagesetting: Disc to Print, London. Colour Origination: Vision Reproductions Ltd., Milton Keynes. J. Thomson Colour Printers, Glasgow. Printing & Binding: J. Thomson Colour Printers, Glasgow. HALI ETYMON Hah, the modern Turkish word for carpet o r rug, was written kali in O ttom an script until late in the 19th century, as it was in classical Persian and still is in modern P e rsian. It was borrowed from P ersian into Urdu and from O ttom an Turkish into Armenian and o ther Caucasian tongues and into the languages o f the Balkans. Its ultimate origin is uncertain; it could be Turkish hut might he Sogdian. HALI 94

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HALTTheInternational Magazine of Antique Carpet and Textile Art

I s s u e 9 4

Editor Daniel Shaffer Deputy Editor Jill Tilden Senior Editor Nicholas Purdon Editorial Archivist & Librarian Rachel Evans Assistant Editor (G erman liaison) Jenny Marsh Editorial Assistant Emily Roberts

Consultant Editors Michael Franses, Robert Pinner Contributing Editors Julia Bailey, Alberto Boralevi John Carswell, Steven Cohen Thomas Cole, Rosemary Crill Susan Day, Murray Eiland Jr Herbert Exner, Anthony Hazledine Rina Indictor, Ralph Kaffel Alan Kennedy, Donald King DeWitt Mallary, John Mills Vanessa Moraga, Thomas Murray Penny Oakley, Carlo Maria Suriano Wendel Swan, Parviz Tanavoli John Wertime

Art D irector Liz Dixon Art Editor Anderida Hatch

Publisher Sebastian Ghandchi

Commercial Manager Andy Powell

Advertisement Manager Angharad Britton Deputy Advertisement Manager Conrad Shouldice Senior Advertisement Executive Ralph Emmerson Advertisement Executive Rosario Canade

P ro jects & P romotions Manager Piers Clemett

Subscriptions Manager Ashley Spinks

Publisher’s Assistant & Office Manager Dorisse Akufo-Addo D istribution Assistant Chris Armstrong Database & Circulation Consultant Veronica Purdey Receptionist Zobida Khan

Hali Pubhcations Limited Kingsgate House, Kingsgate Place London NW6 4TA, UK Telephone (44 171) 328 9341 Fax (44 1 7 1 )3 7 2 5924 E-mail hab@ centaur.co.uk A Member of The Centaur Communications Limited Group

HALI 94

THE COVER Silk samite fragment with confronting stags (detail), Sogdia, 7th century AD. 36.5 x 52.5cm (1'2" x 1'9"). While most Sasanian silk roundels contain a single b ird or beast, the Sogdians preferred confronting pairs, as in this splendid pair of red stags within a circle with vegetal motifs. Finely woven in vivid colours, and in an astonishing state of preservation after untold centuries in storage in Tibet, this silk shares many features with Sasanian silk textiles, including the rosette between the heads of the stags which is reminiscent of the motif that occurs between the roundels of the ‘Pheasant’ samite belonging to the Abbey of Notre Dame de Jouarre, near Paris. Abegg-Stiftung, Riggisberg, inv.no. 4901.

53 EDITORIAL

Anticipating an Indian autumn; a safe home for early silks.

55 LETTERS

A rallying ciy for the open-minded - James Opie resists the embrace of new orthodoxies; Edmund de Linger remembers May Beattie’s role in a landmark carpet exhibition; Raoul Tschebull and those damn Heriz dates again.

57 FRAGMENTS

Jacobean interiors at Chastleton and a facelift for Hardwick Hall; the Asian Civilisations Museum opens in Singapore; Tbilisi joins the international symposium circuit.

59 FORUM

What do a uniquely famous Turkish prayer rug, found in Venice and linked forever with a German art historian and an Austrian artist, and the Empress Sissi have in common? They may be ensis but are they Saryk? —a closer look at Neil Moran’s 1884 ABC watercolour; para-Mamluk postscript; as DOB AG celebrates its 15th anniversary, HALI joins the party in the weaving villages in western Anatolia.

68 WHITE GIANTS

Carpets o f the Beni Ouarain and Related Moroccan Nomadic Tribes Gebhart Blazek In design and colour this distinctive group of outsize Middle Atlas carpets stands apart from the mainstream of Moroccan weaving. The author sees in their archaic appearance a memory if not a direct link to age-old Zenata Berber weaving traditions. 75 FROM RABAT TO THE ATLAS

Moroccan Carpets at the MAAO, Paris Gerard Boely & Marie-France Vivier Based on two substantial private donations, this collection of Moroccan rugs provides an anthology of types and regions. From the interplay of oriental and Berber elements in Rabat carpets to the virtuoso exuberance of High Atlas weavings, these are rugs that are both primitive and sophisticated, disciplined and free. 80 TEXTILES IN THE STATE

HISTORICAL MUSEUM, MOSCOW Olga Gordeeva During its 125 years the Russian Historical Museum has attracted extensive donations of all kinds, from manuscripts and memorabilia to stamps and weapons. The textile and carpet collection alone numbers some 380,000 items. Many of them reflect the passions of a single collector, Peter Shchukin, who began by collecting Turkish and Persian textiles, went on to chronicle the influence of the East on Russian culture, and finally became absorber! in Russia’s own applied art traditions.

84 THOROUGHBREDS OF THE

TURKMEN STEPPES Jasper Winn, with photographs by Paul Harris The Turkmen horse, one of the oldest and purest equine breeds, is one of the twin pillars of Turkmen culture. The other of course is rug weaving. Travelling in northern Iran, the author finds that you can’t have one without the other.

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