Thursday, August 23, 2012

Turkotek's Price in need of a History Lesson




Recently on Turkotek I was truly amazed by what I read. Horst Nitz made some brilliant points in


Sadly Marla Mallett responded with the worst reply I have seen in the 16 years I have known her. Marla is a real expert on structure and generally an expert on Rugs and Kilims. This time Marla did not know or did not remember that the Kars region of what is now Turkey was part of Russia 100 years ago. It is not a big deal Marla is so brilliant most of the time she has earned this one. But Marla was not the one shocking in her ignorance Steve Price was.

Steve Price wrote:
Although it seems likely that these were woven within the borders of what was Russia at the time, I don't think I've ever seen geographic attributions of rugs made to anything except the present. For example, Tabriz was not only in Azerbaijan until fairly late in the 19th century, it was the capital of Azerbaijan. I've never seen a Tabriz carpet attributed to anything except Persia or Iran (in rugspeak, the terms are interchangeable).”

I had to read it twice to see the amazingly convoluted and incorrect point Steve was trying to make. Tabriz has been the dominant city of Persian Azerbaijan since the days of the IL-Khanid Mongols. In all that time except for a few short-lived invasions Tabriz has always been Persian. It is now the administrative center for West Azerbaijan an Iranian province. East and West Azerbaijan are part of Iran and have been for hundreds of years. The northern part of Azerbaijan was captured 200 years ago by the Russians and is now an independent country called Azerbaijan. Despite what Steve Price thinks, the nation state of Azerbaijan has never ruled Tabriz. In 1945 the Russians tried to take Tabriz but Harry Truman thwarted their plans.
It is amazing how little related history and geography Professor Price has absorbed over the years. The things he writes about rugs become more explainable when you understand how very little he knows about the weavers, their location and their history.

By the way poor old Steve Price can't see the face in this image, can you?





Thursday, August 9, 2012

Was Mellaart really Sir James Mellaart?

James Mellaart is often referred to as Sir James Mellaart. I decided who would know better than the British Academy. here is Melaart's record at the academy.  They use "Mr" to describe him.
James Mellaart at Catalhuyuk
James Mellaart at Catalhuyuk
British Academy Fellows
Record for: MELLAART, Mr James
Post: Formerly Lecturer in Anatolian Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, London
Specialisms: Archaeology
Appointments:
Lecturer in Anatolian Archaeology Institute of Archaeology (1964-1991)
Principal publications:
The Calcolithic and early Bronze Ages in the Near East and Anatolia, 1966
Çatal Hüyük, a neolithic town in Anatolia, 1967
The neolithic of the Near East, 1975
Earliest civilizations of the Near East, 1965
Elected to the Fellowship: 1980 § 10

I was thinking about Mellaart when I saw this image. Because of the Mellaart fraud large numbers of othewise reasonable people became enchanted with the so-called Mother Goddess worship.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Why Paint a Rug - Painted Sarouk Rugs

Why Paint a Rug - Painted Sarouk Rugs

In rugs for the decorative market color is everything. So what do you do if a rug is the wrong color. With Sarouk rugs they dyed them to a more saleable color. In the picture below the Painted Sarouk rug had an orange red field but was dyed to the blue/red in the image. Why? Because American homes predominantly used dark mahogany furniture and this was the color that went best with it.

Don't forget to read American Sarouk - Painted Beauty by Lynn Tall

1920's Sarouk Carpet
Sarouk is the name of a village but it also has become the name of a grade of rug from that area. Trade names for the rugs of the Sarouk region include: FeraghanFeraghan SaroukMahal, Mohajaran Sarouk, Mushkabad (now called Mahal) and Viss/Golpayegan Rugs . On this page I am focusing on the American Sarouk.