HALI has organised a series of special events in Italy to precede the two-day colloquium Kerman Carpets of the Safavid Period (1501-1736) in Genoa, organised in memory of Alessandro Bruschettini, the renowned collector of Islamic art. Conceived as a celebration of the wealth of antique carpets and textiles in Italy, a week of talks, guided museum visits… Read more »
Held in the Palazzo Rosso in Genoa, ‘The Magnificent Sanguszko Carpets’ presents the 16th-century Persian Kerman ‘Sanguszko-type’ carpets together for the first time. More than four hundred carpets from the Kerman region are known from the 16th and 17th centuries. The Sanguszko carpets are just one group from this region. Carpets from Kerman have been… Read more »
Kazak rugs from the western Transcaucasus have long been a concentrated interest for US specialist collector/scholar Raoul Tschebull, who authored a seminal exhibition catalogue, Kazak, in 1971, and an often-cited article on Kazak design in the third issue of HALI in 1978. In this HALI article he reprises the theme, focusing on three rugs from his collection, with comment extracted from his new book, Qarajeh to Quba.
Three quarters of a century have passed since an early south Persian chahar bagh design carpet of unprecedented size and complexity was discovered in the Amber Palace of the Maharajas of Jaipur. Stored in the city’s Albert Hall Museum, at long last we are able to publish this extraordinary Safavid ‘garden’ carpet in its entirety for the first time.
In a lifetime of collecting, Lloyd Cotsen refined his own interests while expanding opportunities for artists and scholars. Throughout, he maintained a fascination for the way objects are constructed—and understood how a mere fragment can reveal the secrets of a complete textile. Lyssa C. Stapleton, curator of the Cotsen Collection, gives an overview of the man and his collections.
Michael Franses tells the remarkable story of his 34-year quest to find the missing 16th-century classical Chinese carpets of the Chinese Imperial household.
In the light of the Marketplace report in HALI 181 (Autumn 2014), which is devoted to Middle Amu Darya region prayer rugs, we republish here Ralph Kaffel’s 2007 article ‘Beshir Prayer Rugs’ (HALI 151, pp.74-83) as well as the online supplement ‘Classification by Design’, first published to accompany that article. Please click the images below to… Read more »
From HALI 180 On first glance this colourful flatweave looks like a Persian kilim. But, as Alberto Boralevi reveals, it is in fact a rare Italian peasant rug, with a purpose that makes it central to important local rites For its 10th anniversary, the 2014 Sartirana Textile Show (10–14 September) will feature a special loan… Read more »
The late Ian Bennett, HALI’s former Chief Contributing Editor, was a complex and often troubled man of extraordinary talent, intellect, wit, and knowledge – of Oriental rugs and much, much more. Widely experienced in the London art and auction market, and latterly the carpet and textile expert at Netherhampton Auctions in Salisbury, his immense skills as a… Read more »
In 1995, to mark half a century in the rug business, the late Paul Nels was interviewed by HALI’s then deputy editor Andrea Marechal. Her brief account, published in HALI 82, captures much of the spirit of a larger-than-life character who was a given on the London antique carpet scene for so many decades.
