HALI NEWSLETTER No. 454

[View this email in your browser]( Hosted online by the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center from 10–11 April, '[re]Think Silk' is an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural examination of silk and sericulture that explores the subject beyond traditional geographic and cultural perspectives. Join scholars, curators and specialists as they share recent research and discoveries on silk textiles from around the world. Panels will explore new developments in silk studies, including silk production in India, Italy and parts of Africa; the social and psychological appeal of silk in Mesoamerica and Northern China; and contemporary technological efforts to modify silk. Among the presenters are Zhao Feng, dean of the School of Art and Archaeology, Zhejiang University, China; textile artist and founder of Treenway Silks, Karen Selk, Canada and Elena Phipps, conservator and curator, The Met, New York (retired) and lecturer, UCLA, Los Angeles. The Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center is home to one of the world’s most significant textile study collections. Assembled by the late Lloyd Cotsen, it consists of some 4,000 fragments created around the globe and dating from antiquity to the present. '[re]Think Silk' is a project of the Center and John E. Vollmer, and is supported by the Rubin-Ladd Foundation and the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection Endowment. Participation in the colloquium is free of charge. Please register early to reserve your space. Image: Silk textile fragment (detail), China, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection T-1633. Photo by Bruce M. White Photography. [Find out more.]( In this virtual talk, hosted by the New England Rug Society, Alberto Boralevi will discuss his forty years of hunting in Italy for carpets existing in museum storage or in the holdings of ancient aristocratic families. An architect and dealer in antique textiles and carpets, Alberto Boralevi comes from a family of art dealers active in this business since the beginning of the 20th century. As Chairman of the International Conference on Oriental Carpets (ICOC) Academic Committee, Alberto Boralevi is involved in organising ICOC XV, taking place from 6–9 June in Istanbul. Register below for the talk which will take place on 9 March at 6pm GMT. Image: Alberto Boralevi sitting on the Medici Mamluk carpet. 'Not only is Deniz Coşkun an experienced guide with a high level of professionalism, attention to eventuality and the requirements of a specific group, but he also draws on an infectious enthusiasm and personal passion for weaving, rugs and textiles. His detailed knowledge of the practical aspects of weaving and its connections with pastoralist and transhumant culture and communities offered important context and perspective.' Offered by The Black Tent Project and HALI—led by Deniz Coşkun—this tour is being held from 24 May–5 June 2024. Participants will be taken on a journey through weaving regions in Turkey just ahead of the ICOC XV in Istanbul. Image: Turkish and Islamic Art Museum-Istanbul Ahead of the upcoming Decorative Arts of Iberia HALI Tour in partnership with Martin Randall Travel, HALI Tour Manager, Rachel Meek, spoke to the art historian and HALI Tour lecturer, Gijs van Hensbergen and Sophie Watts, Operations Director at Martin Randall Travel, about some of the highlights tour guests can expect to enjoy next month in Spain and Portugal. Image: Mughal pashmina pile carpet fragment, Kashmir or Lahore, India, ca. 1650. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, (inv. T60). [Listen to these conversations.]( The focus of this month's [#RugFactFriday]( is on Moroccan flatweaves, and much is revealed about them through Gebhart Blazek's exploration of Abdelhay Alouani Bibi's Berber flatweave collection in HALI 193. The author begins by providing some context on the collector, who focussed his enthusiasm on 'the fine textiles of the Beni Ouarain and Zemmour, today considered classic pieces, and particularly on the textiles, carpets and kilims of the Ait Ouaouzguite.' Blazek then delves into the kilims of the collection, called hanbel in Arabic and Lahmal shadoui or Zanafi in the regional Tachelhit language. He explains that they 'originally served both as transport bags and as blankets' and 'particularly finely executed pieces were mostly used just once in the course of the wedding ceremony as a transport bag, to transport the bride’s dowry, and then stored away as a special cover brought out and used only on special occasions.' Continuing: 'Similarly, the textiles with knotted elements, known in the trade as Glaoui hanbel or Lahmal n‘ibouli’ in the regional dialect‚ were used only on special occasions. As a result of this limited use, the greater part of the pieces, despite their relatively great age, are in an almost perfect state of preservation. Apart from a series of truly top-class objects of each of these types, the sheer quantity of exquisite fine kilims is an important characteristic of the Abdelhay Collection, which documents the wealth of variations and craftsmanship of the textile culture of the Ait Ouaouzguite in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.' The full article can be accessed with a digital subscription to HALI. [Find out more.]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Website]( [LinkedIn]( Copyright © 2023 Hali Publications, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: HALI Publications 6 Sylvester Path London, Hackney E8 1EN United Kingdom Want to change how you receive these emails? 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