HALI NEWSLETTER No. 419

[View this email in your browser]( From 26–29 October 2023, twenty dealers from nine countries will gather at De Duif in Amsterdam for the 21st edition of the Tribal Art Fair (TAF). The TAF is internationally renowned among collectors and art lovers for the quality and variety of objects offered, attracting visitors from all over the world. The range of objects varies from African masks, statues, jewellery and textiles from Asia, to wickerwork, shields and ancestor statues from Oceania. These and other enchanting works of art can be found in all price categories. 'For both exhibitors and visitors, the TAF is an annual event to look forward to,' says initiator Finette Lemaire. 'The beautiful location, the historic church De Duif, in combination with the most beautiful objects from all over the world and a program of interesting lectures, make this yearly fair an inspiring experience for all visitors, for both experienced collectors and lovers of beautiful objects. Feedback shows that those who have visited the TAF once are so enthusiastic that they return every year.' Among the exhibitors, there are many returning participants, such as Adam Prout Ethnographic Art from UK, Galerie Punchinello from France, Michael Woerner Oriental Art from Thailand, Raccanello Tribal Art from Austria and Zubek Gallery from Germany. New participants this year include Joe Loux from the United States and Raphaël Sevette from Switzerland. Prior to the fair, experts check the authenticity of all objects exhibited. The lecture program will include two book presentations, a mini-symposium on 'Authenticity in tribal art' and a lecture by Arnold Wentholt on the collection of the architect Aldo van Eyck. The book presentations include Oog in oog met de goden by Alexander Reeuwijk and Cache-sexe by Emeritus Professor of Urology Philip Van Kerrebroeck. Shown above is a ceremonial cotton shaman's dress worn during rituals, Tamang, Nepal, Louis Nierijnck/Tribal Art. [Find out more.]( [News] 'Wiener Werkstätte: From Nature to Abstraction' is showing at The George Washington Museum and The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. until 5 November 2023. In the early 1900s, Austria became a renowned centre of modern design following the emergence of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop). This exhibition displays fabric samples from designers in this group, alongside work by GW art students, inspired by the original designs. Shown above is Royal, Maria Likarz-Strauss, 1928 (designed). Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection T-0193.166. Photo by Bruce M. White Photography. [Find out more.]( [News] This month for [#RugFactFriday]( we are using the HALI Archive to look at Safavid carpets and their sub-groups. In [HALI 191]( from 2017, Michael Franses looks in detail at three tapestry woven covers from Safavid Kashan: the 'Bliss birds in medallion tapestry' (shown above), the 'Saxony four-lobed medallion tapestry, and the 'Saint-Seine eight-lobed medallion tapestry.' Tapestries of this type were sold to Polish nobility in the early 17th century, whilst others were presented as gifts by Shah Abbas I, the fifth ruler of Safavid Persia. Franses explains that 'tapestry weaves were luxury objects during the Safavid period. Today some fifty Safavid silk tapestries survive, almost all because they reached noble European homes (only five have survived in Iran). They are made of silk thread, with their wefts incorporating flattened gold and/or silver gilt strips wrapped around a silk core, then woven on a simple loom using the slit- or interlocked tapestry techniques.' He continues, 'Surviving examples are usually attributed to the city of Kashan in the period 1550–1625, although some may well have been made in other centres. May Beattie wrote that these Safavid tapestries were little known until nine were among the 229 tapestries and carpets in the ‘Meisterwerke Muhammedanischer Kunst’ exhibition in Munich. The designs on these tapestries vary considerably, and a few of them can be related through their colours, pattern and weave to certain pile carpets. All but six are of a similar small size.' Franses describes the 'Bliss' tapestry above as 'one of the most attractive of its type'. Writing, 'this beautiful tapestry has an ivory-ground lobed medallion with a central crane, and six more surrounding it, with animals and dragons in combat around the medallion, on the same colour ground; quarter-medallions on a blue ground in the corners of the field contain more cranes. The animal combats hark back to the patterns of the most famous Safavid pile carpets from Tabriz and Qazvin, especially those with the so-called Paradise Park design.' Read Michael Franses' complete analyses of these magnificent tapestries in HALI 191. [Buy HALI 191.]( [Buy a digital subscription to read HALI 191 online.]( [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](