HALI NEWSLETTER No. 420

[View this email in your browser]( Bonhams Skinner is delighted to present an auction of 'Fine Carpets & Rare Textiles'. A wide array of beautiful and collectible rugs and textiles from multiple consignors will feature, including Turkmen, Baluch and select Central Asian rugs from the Jim Dixon Collection. Known as one of the world's greatest carpet collectors, this sale offers many of Dixon's most interesting Central Asian pieces. Highlights include lots from the Middle Amu Darya region, unusual Ersari rugs, early Tekke weavings, as well as Yomut, Chodor, Kyrgyz, Baluch and Uzbek rugs. Also featured is a range of antique room-sized rugs, antique rugs from the Caucasus, and many rare and excellent pieces from Persia and Anatolia. Antique textiles are included, with pieces from the Balkans, Anatolia, India, China, Japan, India and Indonesia. Other highlights include a collection of modernist Kimono and haori. Shown above is a Caucasian Shirvan rug, circa 1890 ([Lot 136](. The auction is running online from 22 July–1 August 2023. Viewings will be held in the Bonhams Skinner gallery in Marlborough, MA, on 28 and 31 July, as well as 1 August. Contact: T: +1 508-970-3238 E: rugs@bonhamsskinner.com [Find out more.]( [News] 'Loose Ends: The Art of Weaving – Marshall Islands – Colonial Legacies' is showing at MARKK, Hamburg until 30 July 2023. Focussing on woven mats from the Marshall Islands, the exhibition explores the many uses that these artworks served historically, including as clothing, blankets, wall decorations, but perhaps most famously as jaki-ed (dress mats). It also traces cultural developments, addressing colonial influences and consequently, Hamburg's link to the Marshall Islands due to its role as a centre of colonial trade. [Find out more.]( Two important shows taking place over five days will bring more than 150 exhibitors, and the world’s finest American Indian and ethnographic art to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Objects of Art & American Indian/Tribal Santa Fe El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, 10–13 August A global melding of the world’s best ancient material to contemporary fine art, this show will feature objects of art from around the world and a special exhibition, 'Strands Across Time: Historic Southwestern Textiles'. This is a fresh take on the manufacture and use of textiles in the Southwest USA, exploring diverse Indigenous weaving techniques and design variations from the 17th through the 20th centuries. Whitehawk Antique Indian & Ethnographic Art Show Santa Fe Convention Center, 11–14 August A Santa Fe tradition for more than 43 years, this show gathers almost 100 of the world’s most knowledgeable experts who have curated the finest textiles, pottery, basketry, beadwork, woodcarving, and more from Native American and world tribal traditions. The show's special exhibition: 'Elegant Vessels: A Century of Southwest Silver Boxes' comes directly to Santa Fe after being shown at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, featuring an even more comprehensive selection of boxes than was exhibited at the Heard. Bonus: A Pop-Up Show El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, 17–20 August 'Vintage to Contemporary' is a collaboration between exhibitors from Objects of Art & American Indian/Tribal Santa Fe and Whitehawk that combines high-end objects from both shows in one incredible pop-up. [Find out more.]( [News] Welcome to the final segment in our exploration of Safavid carpets for [#RugFactFriday](. An article by Nora von Achenbach and Anna Beselin for HALI 187 (Spring 2016) delves into the restoration of part of a Safavid animal carpet fragment and explores the wider context surrounding it, paying particular attention to Chinese influences in carpets of its type. The article begins by detailing the structure and design of the fragment: 'As is usually the case with court manufactory carpets, [the fragment] is knotted according to a cartoon that was provided as a template by a book illumination workshop. The cartoon depicted one quarter of the decoration, which is mirrored respectively in the longitudinal and horizontal axes. The main players are the wild animals. As well as deer, tigers, leopards, panthers and ibexes, what is especially striking are the pairs of fighting animals consisting of a lion and a qilin (of which only six of the original eight remain). The qilin is a mythical Chinese auspicious creature that combines various animal characteristics in its form.' 'The decoration reveals two opposing artistic conceptions: one two-dimensional, the other three-dimensional. The flat flowers form a contrast with the animals’ bodies, which are rendered in three dimensions. The animals’ bellies in their contrasting colours represent a sculptural reading that is transposed into the knotted medium'. The authors go on to explain: 'These two different modes of portrayal in the decoration stem from two different sources of inspiration connected with Chinese influence. While the tendrils and flowers derive from decorative arts such as textiles and porcelain, the representational motifs come from painting.' Continuing: 'When the Mongols conquered extensive parts of the Islamic cultural realm in the 13th century and built the Ilkhanid empire in Iran, it led to a wave of Chinese influences. Brisk trade resulted in the introduction of silk, porcelain, lacquerwork, painted picture scrolls and albums from China. In painting it was mainly pictures with Daoist and Buddhist themes that reached Iran, where the Chinese motifs found an enthusiastic reception and were in wide circulation from the 15th century. Along with the foreign motifs came the influence of a naturalistic, more threedimensional mode of representation.' The article goes on to delineate the cultural associations of the fighting animal pair motif (as is often seen in Safavid carpets), the role of Persian poetry in their design and the intricacies of the conservation project itself. Shown above is the textile conservation team in Berlin at work carefully placing the cleaned and restored Safavid animal carpet fragments on their backing cloth. Photograph by Milena Schloesser, Berlin. [Buy a digital subscription to read HALI 187.]( [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](