HALI NEWSLETTER No. 399

[View this email in your browser]( Dreweatts will hold its 'Fine Furniture, Sculpture, Carpets, Ceramics and Works of Art' online auction, featuring over 700 lots, on 29 and 30 March 2023. The sale includes a number of private collections, carpets and textiles such as [lot 54]( an 18th–19th century finely embroidered Mughal summer carpet from Borde Hill House in West Sussex, UK (above). Mughal summer cloths (spreads and carpets) were typically decorated with symmetrical designs, with repeating floral patterns that were often centred on a medallion with matching spandrels and large borders to recreate a formal flower garden. However, rarer examples, such as the lot shown above, display a more asymmetric, meandering design, characteristic of the European taste for 'Bizarre Silk' from the late–17th to early–18th century. The carpet is richly decorated in tamboured coloured silks, embroidered with exotic birds, monkeys, butterflies and possibly a pangolin, amidst delicate flowering vines bearing a variety of blooms. The handwritten label on the reverse reads 'Col S R Clarke. Borde Hill. Haywards Heath. Sussex'. Colonel Stephenson R. Clarke was a keen naturalist and horticulturist and sponsored the expeditions of plant and tree collectors across the world. [View the sale and register to bid.]( [News] 'IKAT: A World of Compelling Cloth' is showing at Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, Washington until 29 May 2023. Featuring over one hundred textiles dating from the 12th century onwards, the exhibition is a thorough introduction to the art of dying threads to create hand-woven textiles, with the exhibits ranging from Japanese kimonos and furnishings to Central Asian silk robes and Indonesian symbolic cloths. There is also an immersive installation by contemporary artists Rowland and Chinami Ricketts, offering visitors the opportunity to walk through an ikat. [Find out more.]( mailto:morehousebri@aol.com mailto:morehousebri@aol.com The fifth annual Carpet and Textile Forum (previously the Rug Collectors' Weekend) will take place from 2–4 May 2023 at the Santa Ynez Marriott Hotel, California. The opening night reception on 2 May will feature sixteen dealers from the US and abroad. The forum will include seven sessions devoted to rugs and textiles, each varied in subject matter and moderated by a well-known collector in the field. This year’s sessions will be: Saltillo Serapis–Gabbeh Rugs–Salt Bags–Okbash–Velvet Ikats–Weavings from the Amu Darya Region–A Rare Group of Sherkalu Rugs. Each year, attendees are invited to bring rugs and textiles for a 'Show and Tell'. There is a registration fee of $190 for the full three days. [Email the organiser for more information.](mailto:morehousebri@aol.com) [News] In his 1978 article ‘Early Animal Carpets in Western Paintings’, John Mills singled out one carpet, with a motif unique to the Sienese School, whose probable Anatolian origin had puzzled scholars for decades. His findings were prescient, yet he concluded that the origin question was still a mystery to be resolved when more information became available. In tribute to John Mills, Lauren Arnold takes up the challenge in her HALI 214 article. Shown above is a detail from Madonna of Humility (Maria Lactans) with Angels and Donor altarpiece with a ‘2 Birds and a Tree’ carpet, Giovanni di Paolo, ca. 1426. The Met. [Read more in HALI 214.]( Koller in Zürich will hold its 'Carpets' auction on 30 March 2023 at 5pm CEST. The sale will feature 82 carpets, many of which are large and intended for grand interiors. There will also be some small silk collectors’ pieces and some interesting Caucasian carpets. Shown above is [lot 1503]( an antique Bakhshaish carpet featuring a light-blue central field with a red central medallion and pink corner motifs. [View the sale and register to bid.]( [News] 'Double Vision: Jessie Oonark, Janet Kigusiuq and Victoria Mamnguqsualuk' is showing at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto until 2 April 2023. The exhibition is centred around the works of Oonark and her daughters, all of whom were Nunavut artists. They produced nivinngajuliaat wall hangings, stitched textiles with appliquéd images that typically explored the relationship between humans and animals. The exhibition brings together examples of nivinngajuliaat from across Canada and explores the ways in which creating these artworks is a fundamentally matriarchal process. Shown above is an untitled nivinngajuliaat by Jessie Oonark, Qamani`tuaq, Canada, circa 1972–1973, Government of Nunavut Fine Art Collection. [Find out more.]( We are in the process of revising our privacy policy. If you would like to unsubscribe click [here](. [Follow Us] [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Been forwarded this email and want to receive it regularly? Subscribe to this newsletter]( Copyright © 2023, Hali Publications Ltd., All rights reserved. [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences](