HALI NEWSLETTER No. 407

[View this email in your browser]( Austria Auction Company will hold its 'Collector Rugs XI' sale on 6 May 2023 at 4pm CEST. The lots can be previewed from 3–5 May from 11am–5pm and 6 May from 11am–4pm. The sale offers almost 300 unique pieces. A particular highlight is Kizil Ayak Turkmen main carpet, second half 19th century ([Lot 243]( shown above). This exceptionally large all wool carpet has an unprecedented design with sixteen separate designs scattered throughout the field. These represent repeat designs more commonly seen as secondary decoration on certain other Kizil Ayak and Ersari family weavings, but of a kind not often used as main field designs as seen here. This is just one example of many high-quality lots on offer at this auction. [Bid on liveauctioneers.]( [News] The Textile Museum Associates of Southern California present 'Global Ikat: Roots and Routes of a Textile Technique', a webinar with David Paly on 6 May 2023 at 10am PDT (6pm GMT). Deceptively simple or fantastically intricate, ikat technique has been used for many centuries to create extravagant costumes and cloths of deep cultural meaning. The distinctively blurred, feathered or jagged patterns of ikat tie-dyed textiles are found across much of the world- from Japan in the east to Central and South America in the west, with vast areas of Southeast Asia, India, Central Asia and the Middle East in between. The traditional patterns still hold cultural relevance today in significant parts of the long-established ikat-weaving areas. Textile artists and fashion designers in many and varied countries have taken ikat in new directions, respecting traditional forms and palettes while creatively diverging from them. Dr. David Paly, author of ['Global Ikat: Roots and Routes of a Textile Technique']( has assembled a comprehensive group of textiles representing all of the cultural traditions that use the ikat technique, and which has morphed into a collection of over 500 pieces. More than 140 of them are currently on display at the Seattle Art Museum in 'IKAT: A World of Compelling Cloth'. In this talk, Paly will walk participants through the highlights of his collection. [Register to join.]( Gallery Yacou offers a comprehensive range of carpets, carefully selected for their individuality, quality, elegance and decorative appeal. Visit Gallery Yacou at Stand A3 at the Decorative Fair in Battersea, taking place from 9–14 May 2023. For enquiries, call + 44 (0) 20 7584 2929 or email Robin@GalleryYacou.com. Please get in touch to arrange a visit. Gallery Yacou, O.C.C Building, Unit E, 105 Eade Road, London, N4 1TJ. Gallery Yacou are proud members of BADA and LAPADA. [Visit the Gallery Yacou]( [News] 'Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the Southwest' is showing at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery in New York until 9 July 2023. Here, historic blankets, garments, and rugs from the American Museum of Natural History are situated alongside contemporary works by Diné weavers and visual artists. Indigenous aesthetics and knowledge highlight the localised land-based systems that guide the processes behind the finished objects. [Find out more.]( [News] To coincide with the recent publication of [‘Global Ikat: Roots and Routes of a Textile Technique. The David Paly Collection’]( the opening of an allied exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum, the focus of [#RugFactFriday]( this month will deviate slightly from rugs to focus on Ikat. ‘Textile Paintings’ in HALI 186 from 2015, serves as an excellent foundation for understanding these extraordinary weavings. Here, Sumru Belger Krody, senior curator at The Textile Museum in Washington D.C., comments on the significance of a donation of Central Asian textiles to the museum. She writes: ‘Ikat (a word borrowed from Malay) derives its name from the technique used to create it, wherein parts of the warp or weft yarns are bound off in order to resist dye penetration. Central Asian ikat dyeing is a complex and time-consuming undertaking... The designers of Central Asian ikat textiles created bold linear abstractions drawn from natural forms. The spirit of nature, rather than its realistic appearance, is conveyed in their work.’ Yet beyond their aesthetics, Krody places emphasis on the social functions of ikat textiles, as both garments and furnishings, stating that ‘exchanging ikat fabric yardages or textiles made from them as gifts marked political, economic, and private life-cycle events. Such gifts served as tangible evidence of the givers’ and recipients’ transformation in status and spirit. Ikats were also used to transfer wealth: a dowry or bride price might have included a dozen or more valuable ikat robes, panels, and yards of ikat fabrics.’ Krody concludes by explaining that ‘Ikat can be seen as a critical nineteenth-century link in a long chain of sumptuous luxury fabrics produced along the Silk Road over several thousand years. The visual power it possesses spurred a twenty-first century revival in Uzbekistan and has served as an inspiration for many leading fashion designers around the world.’ If you would like to access the unabridged version of this article, please purchase a digital subscription of HALI, which will grant you access to the complete HALI Archive. We will continue our exploration of ikat in Chapter 2 of #RugFactFriday next week. [Buy a digital subscription to read HALI 186.]( We are in the process of revising our privacy policy. If you would like to unsubscribe click [here](. 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