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 and exhibitions will focus on important artworks held in public institutions and private collections in Florence, Milan and Turin. The week culminates with the opportunity to visit the exhibition The Magnificent Sanguszko Carpets at P ..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 compared with some of the most outstanding knotted pile masterpieces made in the first half of the 16th century in the capital cities of Tabriz and Qazvin, as well as those glorious silk carpets attributed to Kashan. The Sanguszko group may well ..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: (1) Detail of (2) ‘The appellation ‘Kazak’ for a group of coarse long-piled geometric rugs from the western Transcaucasus is in common with a town and district in the Transcauca ..read more

The Safavid ‘garden’ carpet in Jaipur’s Albert Hall Museum was shown in its entirety for the first time in HALI 171, Spring 2012. Scroll down to see it in its full glory, following the HALI article by Bruce Healy: Detail of Safavid chahar bagh carpet, Kerman, south Persia, late 16th or early 17th century ‘The formal four-part garden as a traditional representation of Paradise probably originated in ancient Mesopotamia during the Sumerian period. It evolved through the walled hunting parks of the Achaemenians – the garden built by Cyrus the Great at the 6th century BC site of Pasarg ..read more

‘Wild man’ tapestry fragment depicting a bearded man ploughing a field, Basel, mid 15th century. Ex Robert von Hirsch Collection; Cotsen Collection 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. Loyd Cotsen (1929–2017) drew immense enjoyment from his collectio ..read more

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 see the full articles The post Beshir Prayer Rugs, supplement to HALI 181 appeared first on HALI ..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 exhibition of some forty rare antique Italian peasant rugs, bench covers, wall hangings and bedspreads, woven in various techniques, from Sardinia, Abruzzi, Calabria and other parts of southern Italy. Among the pieces on display will be this very unusual tapestry-woven funer ..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. The post Paul Nels (1922-2014), interviewed in 1995 appeared first on HALI ..read more