Persian Rugs Persian Carpets and Oriental Rugs Oriental Carpets

As I get deeper and deeper into putting together Karapinar Rugs the O'Connell Notes the more convinced I am that Karapinar rugs are distinctive because of the introduction of a Cairene Workshop kilim which spawned Ottoman workshop carpets that then were an influence on the Karapinar village rugs. I am still putting together my ideas but I think they are bearing fruit. I have been reading what I can find on Cairene Carpets and added Cairene Ottoman Carpet Egypt mid 16th century to my notes. I also added Karapinar Iris and Tulip Carpet from Erdmann's 700 Years. I have also been going through my notes books and catalogues looking for Iris blossoms. Fortunately for my theory it is not a common motif in Turkish village rugs. Special thanks to Wendel Swan who has offered much help but as always any mistakes are my own.

Good News:
Parviz Tanavoli Breaks Record at Christie's Dubai ...

and Bad News
The world of Rug Collecting is that much poorer for the loss of Charles Lave on Friday.

Yomud or Yomut?
It is no secret that I consider language as the key to ethnicity. So when I want to understand the relationship between ethnic groups I go to the Ethnologue (Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.) Much to my surprise the Ethnologue draws a distinction between the Yomud and Yomut. They list the Yomud as an ethno-linguistic group in Turkmenistan but they refer to the Yomut as an ethnic group in Iran that speaks Yomud alternate name Yomut. So now I wonder if this is meaningful in rug studies and if we should treat Yomud and Yomut as two different but related weaving groups.in other words can we divide the greater Yomud group into two parts. That said does this give us a way to fit the Eagle Group into this?

Mughal Art The O'Connell Guide a work in progress.

Antique Armenian Folk Textiles from Anatolia
May 2 - June 15, 2008 Gallery51 51 N. 2nd Street Philadelphia, PA 19106
Open Tues. - Sat, 11 - 6; Sun 12 - 6
It is only in the last few years that I ever heard of Craig Wallen and now I hear about him all the time. Craig is suddenly emerging one of the first flight collectable rug and textile dealers nationally. See www.gallery51.net

(Left) Marash Embroidery (sofreh), Armenian, E. Anatolia, 19th C

May at the Textile Museum (From the TM Calander)
Saturday, May 3rd 10:30 am. "Nomadic and Workshop Weavings from Fars Province in Iran" by Tom Cook The audience is invited to bring clean, well-vacuumed examples related to the title of the program. Seating is limited, so please arrive early. FREE; no reservations required. Cook was formerly a member of the Board of Trustees of the Textile Museum and is widely respected for his RTAM presentations.

Also May 31 10:30 am. "Have You Got the Blues? Blue Dyes in Textiles" Jeffrey Krauss and R. John Howe. (Jeff is well known for his collection of Japanese textiles especially Kasuri and R. John for his eclectic taste in Oriental rugs spanning from Turkey to Central Asia.)

Ursula McCracken memorial - 2:00 to 4:00pm, May 10th at the Textile Museum

The Turkmen Prisoner
by Farrukh Beg.

Turkotek and a question of Ethnicity
On Turkotek Richard Larkin raised an interesting question when he wrote: "For example, the competing claims of "Turkomans" and "Anatolians" are asserted, as though each of those groups were monolithic blocks that we fully understand, like chocolate and vanilla. But really, what do we mean in this context by "Turkomans?" What Turkomans, and when?"
What a great question. I use a different system then most people but being alone does not bother me and my system works. Language defines ethnicity. So if we want to know what group wove a type of rugs we go to the milk language of the weaver. Without getting overly complicated Kurdish weavers weave Kurdish rugs. More...

Textile Museum of Canada Features Afghan War Rugs
""Battleground: War Rugs From Afghanistan," an exhibition to be held in Textile Museum of Canada. War Rugs are carpets which are woven primarily by refugees during the Soviet invasion in 1979 to the end of occupation in 1989. Although this genre of rug does have a weaving history post Soviet occupation, some of the more sought after rugs were woven in 1980's."
See also: Afghan War Rugs, Afghan War Rugs by Oriental Rug Notes by Barry O'Connell ..., and Guide to the Rugs and Carpets of Afghanistan

I am getting a kick out of the discussion in Hajji Baba 75th Anniversary. by Patrick Weiler > Central Asian fragment. They picked up on a story I told below on how Harold Keshishian acquired the fragment in question and Ulrich Schurmann acquired another section of the same carpet. Well they got going and they almost had me believing the pieces were from two different carpets. Then Steve Price began comparing elems from opposing ends of the same carpet and I realized what he was getting at. In one case in particular I would not have thought that the two ends were from different rugs. I know some people feel it is a sign of their own erudition to knock Turkotek but at times it is a crackling good read and Steve Price is a big part of it.
I had a chance to drive Harold up to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore Sunday morning and we discussed the fragment that he bought from Asadorian's. Harold insisted that his piece and Schurmann's were from the same carpet. I asked Harold about the two other fragments from the same carpet. Since there was no attractive way to attach the two to the fragment in the show Harold ended up attaching the two together and he gave the joined piece to McCoy Jones. I wonder if they are published?
I also see that Jim Allen noticed that I was talking about him and added the Azerbaijan carpet, South Caucasus/Northwest Persia Circa 1800 Sotheby's lot 22 into his thread on his yellow ground carpet. Jim has a different way of thinking and processing data than most people. Rather than a linear process Jim's process of discovery tends to take an iterative approach. Early in the process he will float an idea and then he writes it up, then later he revises it. His work gets stronger and stronger as the idea matures. It is good to see Jim on Turkotek since it gives him a forum to work out his ideas.

Greek Islands Prayer Rug from Textile Fragments and Turkish Rugs: Yatak Rug Ayiman Area C 1900

I wonder why Jim Allen did not include the Azerbaijan carpet, South Caucasus/Northwest Persia Circa 1800 Sotheby's lot 22 in his discussion of his yellow ground rug in the Turkotek thread 18th Century Anatolian Turkmen.

Rippon Boswell & Co. CATALOG ON-LINE
Major Spring Auction Saturday, 24th May 2008, at 3.00 p.m.
Rare and antique carpets, flat-weaves, embroideries and textiles including carpets from the Orient Stars Collection and pieces from the Collection Horst und Eva Engelhardt.
Rippon Boswell & Co.
Friedrichstrasse 45
65185 Wiesbaden, Germany
Auctioneer: Detlef Maltzahn, Wiesbaden

"Worm Dangling from the mouth of a bird"
The New York Hajji Baba are having a 75th anniversary exhibition called "Timbuktu To Tibet," at the New York Historical Society. The gang at Turkotek is having a salon on the show and Dr. James Blanchard the rug collector from Bangalore India posted praise of a piece catalogued as "Turkmen Fragment, Central Asia, 18th or 19th Century (Harold Keshishian)". It quickly generated 8 replies and when I mentioned it to Harold he told me the rest of the story. In the late 70s Harold was visiting one of the younger Asadourian brothers (Hagop or Krikor’s son) shop at 276 5th Ave in New York City. In a 4 foot high pile of fragments Harold found this and two other fragments of a very old very worn Turkmen Main Carpet. Try as he might Harold could not find the other half of his elim. So when he left who should Harold run in to but the great German Rug Scholar and friend Dr. Ulrich Schurmann. Harold", Schurmann said, "What is that in your hand". After seeing Harold's find Schurmann returned to the shop and did not leave until he located the other half of the elim which is published in Werner Loges, Turkmen Tribal Rugs, plate 48, 1980.

At a later date Schurmann was visiting with Harold at his Washington DC place when they had a chance to look at this piece again. Starting early in the morning with a stack of rugs and a fifth of vodka Schurmann began his studies. A few hours into the process Dr. Ulrich Schurmann declared with all possible Teutonic authoritative certainty that these designs were of "worm dangling from the mouth of a bird". Harold has admitted to me that he has never been able to make out either the birds or the worms and he has no intention of imbibing enough vodka to make it possible.

This piece is one piece and the borders as they were in the carpet. It is about half of an elim of a Drynak Gul carpet that was about 8 foot across.

Rugs are a product of people. So if we wish to understand who wove the rug we need to understand the people. I have pulled together a list of what people live in the Asian portion of Turkey. People of (Asian) Turkey by Language. I will make it a point to annotate the list with when these groups entered Turkey and what happened to other groups that lived there but are no longer present. For instance there are Northern Caucasian people who arrived in the late 18th and 19th century and there are Armenians who died or were driven out in the late 19th and early 20th century. I only focused on the Asian part of Turkey since it is the primary weaving area.

New on Tea and Carpets; Drawing Oriental Carpet Designs Is An Artform Of Its Own. Nice article, often in the west we pay no attention to the role of the designer. I was struck with the emphasis in Iran on the design and the complexity of the design. The more unique a design is and the less repeat the more valuable the rug is.

Karapinar Tulip Rug from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

How do we date Early Karapinar Carpets?
Not long ago Wendel Swan sent me a picture of the Textile Museum Karapinar tulip long rug. It is a magnificent rug and a very early example of the type but the Textile Museum has it listed as 19th century. How then can the Textile Museum date this rug so late? I think I have it figured out. I don't agree but now I think I understand the rational.

Mae Beattie identified a group of unusual Kilims that she dated to the 17th century. I believe that Court Kilim from the Ulu Mosque in Divrigi is an example of that group. So if Charlie Ellis accepted Mae Beattie's attribution of 17th century and I am sure he would because I think he helped her with it, then you can understand how he dated the Karapinar Tulip Rug from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the 18th to 19th century. So if Karapinar Tulip Rug from the Philadelphia Museum of Art is 18th to 19th century then you can understand how Ellis who had a great deal of input on such thing at the Textile Museum would date the Textile Museum Karapinar tulip long rug to the 19th century.

The problem is that a number of rugs are plausibly date dated much earlier such as to Turkish Rugs: Karapinar Long Rug C. 1600 and Turkish Rugs: Karapinar Long Rug from the Vakiflar Museum Circa 1600 - 1700. My thought is that the Ottoman took Egypt in 1517 so why not date the Court Kilim from the Ulu Mosque in Divrigi to circa 1500. After all it is made in the Egyptian manner. So if we date that one to 1500 then we can quiet plausibly date Turkish Rugs: Karapinar Long Rug C. 1600, Turkish Rugs: Karapinar Long Rug from the Vakiflar Museum Circa 1600 - 1700, Textile Museum Karapinar tulip long rug, Turkish Rugs: Karapinar Long Rug Fragment from the Wolf Collection, and Karapinar Yellow Ground Tulip Rug from Berdj Achdjian to circa 1600 and into the 17th century. So where do we put the Karapinar Tulip Rug from the Philadelphia Museum of Art? How about mid 16th century?

Ursula McCracken memorial - 2:00 to 4:00pm, May 10th at the Textile Museum

Family and friends will hold a gathering of remembrance from 2:00 to 4:00pm, May 10th at The Textile Museum in Washington. Ursula requested contributions to the American Pain Foundation, Suite 710, 201 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21201 or the Textile Society of America, P.O. Box 193, Middletown, DE 19709.

See Ursula McCracken memorial - 2:00 to 4:00pm, May 10th at the Textile Museum

L.A. Rug Expert Brian Morehouse weighs in on 18th Century Anatolian Turkmen

The level of discourse on Turkotek certainly has gone up a notch or two since Jim Allen started his 18th Century Anatolian Turkmen thread. Now L.A. Rug Expert Brian Morehouse has jumped into the discussion with both feet. Brian has come out with a variation of the old, Turkish Rugs are Armenian rugs, argument.

See L.A. Rug Expert Brian Morehouse weighs in on 18th Century Anatolian Turkmen

Five Very Special Fragments
After the RTAM at the Textile Museum Harold Keshishian and I ducked out quickly and I drove Harold to another engagement in Upper Northwest. As we drove Harold told me about the five pieces that he had in the program. These rugs were very special for a very unusual reason. All of them were presents to Harold from major dealers and collectors. It used to be a custom for top collectors and dealers to give gifts of important rugs and fragments to up and coming collectors and dealers. Fragments were especially prized by all the big collectors, guys like Joe McMullan, Hagop Kevorkian, Ralph Yohe, and Russ Pickering prized them. In fact the two big Indo-Persian fragments on the right were presents from Ralph Yohe, The square Indo-Persian fragment above and too the right of the other two was a gift of Magda Shapiro a top London dealer. (I was especially interested in this one since it had that orange that Ellis used as a marker for Herat.) The two smaller Mughal fragments were a present from Harry Bolsen who ran J.H. Dildarian, Inc. for 80 year old a mainstay of the Madison Avenue rug trade.
Harold is like family to me and I learn so much when we get together. The five fragments are great pieces but they mean a lot more when I know the story behind them.

Swan and Walker at the Textile Museum
I made it to the Textile Museum RTAM to hear Wendel Swan and Daniel Walker. Wendel was brilliant. I was really impressed by the creative approach Wendel took to a Karapinar carpet fragment. Dan Walker did a nice job of talking about his collection of classical era fragments. The audience seemed notably surprised when Dan showed a copy of the "Goddess in Anatolia" and used it to relate to some of his fragments. Dan handled it well and made some good points. Walker talked a bit about small silk Kashan rugs and related them to a piece in his collection. His concept of a later silk Kashan rug with Jufti knotting was adventurous but he carried it off well. Both Wendel and I asked questions pointing to a Khorasan attribution for the fragments but Walker stood his ground. Dan and I tend to disagree on many of the attributions of classical carpets but it was easy to see the strong academic qualities that made Dan Walker so attractive to the TM when they drafted him. I think he is best thing to happen to the Textile Museum in years. Obviously the TM is lucky to have such a brilliant and dedicated director. Some of the pieces in the show were Harold Keshishian's but I will talk about them later.

Tonight I feel terrible, not sick but my allergies are bothering me. I am not very impressed by the cherry blossoms here in the Washington DC area but I love the Bartlett pear trees even if I am allergic. So between sneezes I added Turkish Rugs: Shield Kazak Rug Anatolia Circa 1900 lot 68, Turkish Rugs: Kozak Rug Circa 1870 lot 55, Turkish Rugs: Kurdish Rug Circa 1880 lot 65, and Turkish Rugs: Konya-Nigde Kilim Circa 1860 lot 66. I am still trying to fill in the gaps in my Turkish rug notes. Tomorrow is Saturday and I am going to Dan Walkers talk at TM if I feel up to it. I work every day except Sunday so I have a new system. I hate to get up and go to work so I have started getting up extra early so I can read the Bible. Then I get up and have a leisurely breakfast. Since I started this I always get to work early and usually in a very good mood. I don't read the Bible because I am a good person, quite the reverse. I am so much more wicked than the average person I need the help. Saturday is my easy day because I help out at Mark Keshishian & Sons. Great people and I love the time with the rugs.

Earlier I provided a link to Rug Rag's stain removal guide. I tried it and it is a nice guide.

Saudi Aramco World has a nice article on Venice and Islam in East Meets West in Venice. Former Textile Museum Trustee Walter Denny a rug expert and professor of art at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst is quoted as saying that the Venetian Republic was “an entrepôt for the importation into Europe of profitable luxury goods such as carpets and textiles, and opened a European door to the Islamic cultures that created those goods,”.

DOBAG rugs and fair-trade|
By Birte Staerk, DOBAG Carpets, Denmark, 15 April 2008
The topic of fair-trade is very much in the public mind, and the Dobag carpet project is, in my opinion, the essence of fair-trade. The Turkish women involved in the project are paid adequately and fairly for their craftsmanship and quality handwork - and we can buy the carpets with an easy conscience.

Carpets in Western Europe During the Renaissance
Links to photos of extant 15th-17th century carpets, as well as depictions of carpets in 15th and 16th century artwork. I am not sure whose work this is but it is a very useful list of links with brief annotation. At the risk of sounding prideful I love it when I see someone take some of my work and make it part of a greater work. Take for instance a little article of mine that they included, Domenico Ghirlandaio' s Saint Jerome. I had forgotten that I wrote it and then I find it as a link on someone else's page. It is nothing particularly important but I concluded that Domenico Ghirlandaio used the same rug in Domenico Ghirlandaio' s Saint Jerome and Domenico Ghirlandaio Madonna Enthroned mid 15th century and I wrote about it in Domenico Ghirlandaio and his Rugs. It is nice to have my massive ego assuaged for the day.

Tea and Carpets' A Carpet Of Stone Honors Hamburg As Heart Of Europe's Oriental Rug Trade

Rug Rag's Stain Removal Guide

What is the value of a Seidman and Keshishian presentation?
Just today I was speaking with Cynthia Kosciuczyk who is the manager of 4th Avenue Rug Gallery in San Diego. Cynthia was telling me what a fan she is of the Textile Museum. I had to ask her if she reads John Howe's blog and she was not aware of it. John is a humble guy who puts in countless hours of selfless work to help a wider audience to get more out of the Textile Museum programs. It is well worth visiting John's site.

Take a look at John's 18th and 19th Century Anatolian Carpets: Keshishian and Seidman.

It is a useful and artistic article. John added a small note, "Harold has said to me, recently, that the extent and excellence of Michael Seidman’s preparation for this session is not adequately recognized in what we have said above and this comment is an effort to correct that."

What is the value of a Seidman and Keshishian presentation? No record, no transcripts, no video, virtually no record at all without John. I have documented a few and John is off to a good start documenting more and that is good. Still for the handful available on-line there are more than 30 years of RTAMS lost and gone for ever. 30 years of guys like Keshishian, Seidman, Wendel Swan, John Wertime, Steve Price, Zimmerman, Charlie Ellis, Ulrich Schurmann, and so many other. Still the Textile Museum is a wonderful place and Bruce Baganz and the rest of the board are great guys doing so much with very little. Maybe a good first step if you really value the Textile Museum is to Join, Renew, or just Write them a Check.

Here are some odds and ends from my site: Long time Trustee John Sommer on Kyrgyz felt at the TM

HK's "Rug Morning" The Introduction

HK's "Rug Morning" The Persian Collection

HK's "Rug Morning" Explosion of Red

HK's "Rug Morning" The Mediterranean Collection

HK's "Rug Morning" Parting Shots

This page is always my most popular but Persian Rugs the O'Connell Guides is my second ,most popular. I was interested in the key words that brought readers to that page. The top 10 searches terms that brought people to that page are:"Kerman rugs", "rug appraisal", "spongobongo.com", "hamadan", "kasak rugs", "persian isfahan rug", "chahal shotur", "gabbeh iran persian", "cartouches on persian carpets", and "kashan rug".

On the dating of Rugs:
“They can't all have been made in 1875, some must be older.” This bon mot from Harold Keshishian is as true today as the day he said it. For a number of reasons if a rug looks old dealers or auction houses have traditionally dated it to circa 1875. This is mainly because if a rug later is shown to have a chemical dye it is within the range where a chemical dye could have been used. So it is a safe attribution and a huge number of rugs got assigned an attribution of circa 1875. But in that group some are newer and conversely some must be older. We have reached a point where there are a growing number of rugs that considerably predate 1875.

Pioneering work by Jim Allen working with the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as that of Dr. Jurg Rageth, c14 (radio carbon dating) became a tool in carpet studies. A growing number of rugs have been dated significantly earlier than 1800 and each discovery makes it possible to date other rugs in the time frame that at one point was thought impossible.

Once Jim Allen's 17th century Tekke Juval was dated Circa 1656 it made it possible for others to suggest a rug was of a certain date in relationship to other rugs. It has become what I call a marker rug. Since as far as I know it is the oldest Tekke weaving to date it allows people to use it as a marker in dating their Tekke weaving. More to come...