Frontlines

News: A rug fair in Vienna and a carpet conference in Baku announced for 2013; The MMAs Anhalt carpet revealed; Flemish tapestries at Buckingham Palace; in memoriam: Myrna Myers

Forum: Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about carbon-14 (but were afraid to ask): the science of dating from Dr Christine Prior

Postcard: Loving Paris in the summertime: Alan Kennedy looks back at the Parcours des Mondes, the Biennale des Antiquaires, and the opening of Pagoda Paris

Features

A Display of Intelligence  Sheila Blair & Jonathan Bloom

Considering the Louvre’s new Islamic art galleries from outer structure to inner logic

Border Guards  Hans Konig

Cloud-head border carpets from the Tarim Basin and beyond, an appreciation of the boldly elegant trefoil border motif found on some of the most beautiful carpets from Xinjiang and Gansu

Treasure Island: Textiles from West Timor  Chris Buckley

West Timor may only comprise half a tiny island, but its weaving culture goes from strength to strength

The World within the Words  James W. Reid

The links between the animal imagery of Quechua verse and ancient Andean textiles

A Kaftan for the Kaiser’s man Gebhart Blazek

A dazzling Rabat robe hasn’t got just any old story behind it: it has the run-up to World War One itself

Absorbed in an Animist Universe Jonathan Hope

The Kubler-Thompson Indo-Pacific Art Gallery at Yale impresses with its gifted collection

Context

Exhibitions: Gewebt und Geknupft V: Die Pracht der Saloren”at Schloss Aschach, Austria; ‘Chanteh’ at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin; The Sultan’s Garden:The Blossoming of Ottoman Art’ at The Textile Museum, Washington, DC; ‘Cheveux Cheris: Frivolites et Trophees’ at the Musee du Dual Branly, Paris; ‘Baluch Weavings and Textile Art’, San Francisco

Fairs: Frieze Masters Fair, London; Antique Rug and Textile Show (ARTS), San Francisco; Art Antiques London

Calendar: Auctions, exhibitions, fairs and conferences worldwide

Auction Report: Rippon Boswell’s 319 lots in autumn included offerings from Sweden, Central Asia, China, Japan, and one controversial surprise: a possibly-Francis Bacon-rug

Auction Price Guide: A rarely seen Samarkand ikat, a rare Saryk torba and a famous RKO rug surface in Wiesbaden; plus: a roundup of autumn sales in Stuttgart, Vienna, London, Boston, Cologne, and Wiesbaden

Books: The Sultan’s Garden: The Blossoming of Ottoman Art, by Walter B. Denny and Sumru Belger Krody (catalogue to the Textile Museum exhibition); African Textiles Today, by Chris Spring; also: Titles Received

Parting Shots: From Wembley, The Textile Museum in Washington, DC, ARTS in San Francisco, the Rippon Boswell auction in Wiesbaden, and the Winter Fine Art and Antiques Fair at London Olympia

Last Page: An unusual Sherkalu Qashqa’i rug