Sotheby's Spring Carpet Auction London
The catalogues are mailed and the sale is on-line. Jacqueline Coulter has put together another top sale that is well worth a look.
Session 1: Tuesday, 17 Apr 07, 2:00 PM
London, New Bond Street BROWSE CATALOGUE
Jacqueline Coulter
Senior Director, UK and Europe - Carpets
Tel: +44 20 7293 5232
jackie.coulter@sothebys.com
Saturday, March 31, 2007
The RIA Convention
Recently I had the opportunity to speak at the RIA convention in Orlando. RIA was ASCR, was AIDS, was NIRC. It is the trade group for Rug Cleaners and Restoration Professionals. Uncle Jimmy Keshishian was national president back in 1981 when it was NIRC (National Institute of Rug Cleaners, I think, or maybe it was AIDS). Anyway they found me and persuaded me to come and talk. I prepared a long PowerPoint show and just talked about the rugs. I was going to talk about Persian Rugs as a non-verbal language but at the last minute I decided against it. I recalled a comment by Stuart Cary Welch in the forward of one of his books. He said something about writing a specialist book for the 6 experts in the field or he could write for the general public. He chose to write for the public. I am glad I kept it general since I think everyone enjoyed it. Actually I hope they enjoyed it since I have not seen the comment cards yet.
I think I need to get out and lecture more. I learn far more than I teach but the reaction tends to be positive anyway. I find that more and more of my thoughts are becoming generally accepted. Years ago one of the curators at the Smithsonian responded to one of my theories by saying, "Mr. O'Connell, You have every right to think so... But keep in mind that No One Agrees". Now I hear people advance ideas that only a few years ago I was castigated for when I came up with them. Not to pick on anyone in particular but it is heartening to see ideas gain traction. I think the success of my sites is due in large part to the fact that when I make a mistake I go back and correct it. One of the weaknesses of the Internet is that all time is now. All too often errors left uncorrected take on a life of their own.
Best wishes,
Barry
I think I need to get out and lecture more. I learn far more than I teach but the reaction tends to be positive anyway. I find that more and more of my thoughts are becoming generally accepted. Years ago one of the curators at the Smithsonian responded to one of my theories by saying, "Mr. O'Connell, You have every right to think so... But keep in mind that No One Agrees". Now I hear people advance ideas that only a few years ago I was castigated for when I came up with them. Not to pick on anyone in particular but it is heartening to see ideas gain traction. I think the success of my sites is due in large part to the fact that when I make a mistake I go back and correct it. One of the weaknesses of the Internet is that all time is now. All too often errors left uncorrected take on a life of their own.
Best wishes,
Barry
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Some of My Most Viewed Pages
Hello,
I find it humorous at times that some of my most viewed pages are not about Oriental Rugs at all. My site www.PersianCarpetGuide.com does very well on Google Images and two of the most popular are my Guide to Mamluk Art especially the picture of the The Tipu Sultan Sword with fifteenth-century Mamluk or Ottoman Damascus watered steel blade. and also my Mashad Rugs: Guide to Mashhad Carpets. Both pages have rugs but going through the Analytics it is the sword in one and the Mosque in the other that bring the viewers. I do not mind a bit. It gives me a chance to teach new people about rugs. Of course that is Google Images which is very different from regular Google
Best wishes,
Barry
I find it humorous at times that some of my most viewed pages are not about Oriental Rugs at all. My site www.PersianCarpetGuide.com does very well on Google Images and two of the most popular are my Guide to Mamluk Art especially the picture of the The Tipu Sultan Sword with fifteenth-century Mamluk or Ottoman Damascus watered steel blade. and also my Mashad Rugs: Guide to Mashhad Carpets. Both pages have rugs but going through the Analytics it is the sword in one and the Mosque in the other that bring the viewers. I do not mind a bit. It gives me a chance to teach new people about rugs. Of course that is Google Images which is very different from regular Google
Best wishes,
Barry
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Why do some old Oriental Rugs gets more vibrant and glowing?
On my discussion list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OrientalRug/ Patricia Eddy asked a great question:
--- In OrientalRug@ yahoogroups. com, "patricia.eddy"
wrote:>
> It seems that the color in some old rugs gets more vibrant and
> glowing with age rather than mellow. Why is that? Does any one
know?
To: OrientalRug@yahoogroups.com
From: "yesterday20785" View Contact Details Add Mobile Alert
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:50:24 -0000
Subject: [OrientalRug] Re: Antique Rugs and More
Hello,
Many things factor in but here are some major factors;
Wool is like hair in that it has scales. For those of you who watch
American TV there are many ads that show dry damaged hair with the
scales opening up. Wool does that too and when it does it is at its
most beautiful but also its weakest. When a rug is new the scales are
tight and the lanolin acts like the cream rinse that women use on
their hair. Over the years the lanolin is striped away. when the
lanolin is gone naturally dyed shows those rich jewel tones that
collectors love.
Now and then I see artificially aged rug that look like antiques. The
problem is that grinding, bleaching, hammering blow torching, etc...
take a new rug and wear it out well before its time. If you want to
buy a look and do not mind the reduction in the carpets life then why
not.
With a the rug from Richard I am willing to let my children grow old
and see it reach its high point. I am glad to have a new rug of the
old quality.
Best wishes,
Barry O'Connell
--- In OrientalRug@ yahoogroups. com, "patricia.eddy"
> It seems that the color in some old rugs gets more vibrant and
> glowing with age rather than mellow. Why is that? Does any one
know?
To: OrientalRug@yahoogroups.com
From: "yesterday20785"
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:50:24 -0000
Subject: [OrientalRug] Re: Antique Rugs and More
Hello,
Many things factor in but here are some major factors;
Wool is like hair in that it has scales. For those of you who watch
American TV there are many ads that show dry damaged hair with the
scales opening up. Wool does that too and when it does it is at its
most beautiful but also its weakest. When a rug is new the scales are
tight and the lanolin acts like the cream rinse that women use on
their hair. Over the years the lanolin is striped away. when the
lanolin is gone naturally dyed shows those rich jewel tones that
collectors love.
Now and then I see artificially aged rug that look like antiques. The
problem is that grinding, bleaching, hammering blow torching, etc...
take a new rug and wear it out well before its time. If you want to
buy a look and do not mind the reduction in the carpets life then why
not.
With a the rug from Richard I am willing to let my children grow old
and see it reach its high point. I am glad to have a new rug of the
old quality.
Best wishes,
Barry O'Connell
Friday, March 23, 2007
Magnificent Qing dynasty carpets made for the Forbidden City in Beijing
In the Fuller Building, 41 East 57th Street, the Danon Gallery of Rome and Doris Leslie Blau of New York have a show of what are thought to be magnificent Qing dynasty carpets made for the Forbidden City in Beijing. “We were in the fair for the first time last year and did so well we decided to expand to New York,” said Enzo Danon, who owns the third-generation business with his brother Roberto.
Mounted on the walls, silk carpets laced with gold and silver threads are covered with imperial dragons chasing pearls (representing the emperors’ search for truth and wisdom), lotus flowers (purity, virtue) and pomegranates (fertility). The catalog recounts famous tales of Chinese court life that reveal the meanings of the motifs.
“The symbolism works on different levels,” Mr. Danon said. “Many carpets were made by monks and show a strong Buddhist influence.”
Others have Chinese markings at the top. “There were more than a thousand pavilions in the Forbidden City,” Mr. Danon explained. “The inscriptions say where the carpets go.”
Woven in burnt orange, lavender, indigo blue and yellow silks, the carpets vibrate with color. All but three are available, from $35,000 to $160,000.
Mounted on the walls, silk carpets laced with gold and silver threads are covered with imperial dragons chasing pearls (representing the emperors’ search for truth and wisdom), lotus flowers (purity, virtue) and pomegranates (fertility). The catalog recounts famous tales of Chinese court life that reveal the meanings of the motifs.
“The symbolism works on different levels,” Mr. Danon said. “Many carpets were made by monks and show a strong Buddhist influence.”
Others have Chinese markings at the top. “There were more than a thousand pavilions in the Forbidden City,” Mr. Danon explained. “The inscriptions say where the carpets go.”
Woven in burnt orange, lavender, indigo blue and yellow silks, the carpets vibrate with color. All but three are available, from $35,000 to $160,000.
Afghan tribal 'war rug' collection reveals artistic skill, violent imagery
Afghan tribal 'war rug' collection reveals artistic skill, violent imagery
BY MARY BAUER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 03/23/2007 07:06:30 AM CDT
Tory Ferrey sits among a collection of her Afghan tribal "war rugs" including one depicting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City in the Mahtomedi home of her friend Deb Lauer. (BEN GARVIN, Pioneer Press)Tory Ferrey's custom bumper sticker might read: Make rugs, not war. But the White Bear Lake resident does not object to art that does both: war rugs.
"At first I didn't want any of them," she said. "I thought they were kind of grisly. But we were able to get them."
Ferrey, a teacher's aide in the Mahtomedi school district, has about 40 Afghan tribal war rugs that depict everything from arrowheads to AK-47s. They make up a small part of her collection of Persian rugs that once numbered 600.
War rugs have become highly collectible in the past decade for a number of reasons.
Some of the appeal lies in the surprise factor, said Mark Traxler, of Mankato, Minn., a tribal rug collector and rug weaver well-known on rug-related Internet sites.
Traxler collects pieces 150 years old or older, but he has watched with interest as war rugs bloomed in the past decade.
"Western images of tanks and helicopters represented in a Middle Eastern form does not fit your idea of a normal Oriental rug," he said. "At the same time, it reflects something about weaving, in general, as representative art."
The weavers, he said, were trying to portray things important in their worlds, or in the case of tanks and machine guns, startling additions to their lives.
Added Ferrey: "They document everything that happens to them" in art.
The sense that the rugs portray an important time in history likely also appeals to some collectors, Traxler said.
Also, the supply of quality antique rugs has shrunk, he said, and what is for sale is exorbitantly priced.
"But you can obtain a meaningful piece of this new form for less money," he said.
Ferrey stumbled onto war rugs three years ago through her son, Nathan, then 9. He spotted a rug on the Internet auction site eBay and asked her to buy it. She thought it was a prayer rug until it arrived, when she could clearly make out images of helicopters, fighter jets and convoys. A city was being bombed.
The modern era of war rugs begins with the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. One rug shows the bombing of a mosque. Another shows Soviet tanks headed away from Afghanistan, with deer stags, a favorite symbol of Afghan rugs, featured prominently.
As a collector, Ferrey is less interested in value than in workmanship and symbolism. She can tell the approximate age of a rug by the change in weaponry and materials. In recent years, the guns have gotten smaller, she said, and the helicopters bigger.
Two Sept. 11 patterns have become much copied, she said. She avoided the one depicting bodies falling from the flaming World Trade Center towers and chose another that included a dove. Shortly after the 9/11 rugs emerged, another design appeared showing Afghans helping U.S. troops search in Tora Bora for Osama bin Laden.
Imagery is more subtle in other rugs. She points to what at first glance seems to be a prayer rug.
"It's a very pretty rug, and then you realize this is a truck convoy around the border," she said.
English words are often misspelled. Most of the female weavers, she said, don't speak English and are likely copying unfamiliar symbols from paper.
War rugs have caught on among collectors in recent years, but Ferrey and Traxler said they are ancient in practice. Ferrey pulled out a rug with prominent horses rimmed with arrowheads, signs of power and conflict.
"It's part of being men," she said. "They're proud of their weapons. These
rugs were never made for women."
The rugs make for good lessons in talks she has given to church groups with her friend Deb Lauer, of Mahtomedi, also an aide in the Mahtomedi school district. Men in the audience perk up at the sight and pick out the different makes of guns and grenades.
Ferrey and Lauer have sold much of Ferrey's larger collection over the past two years to benefit various charities, including Afghan education. They've raised $38,000 so far, and Ferrey is down to about 200 rugs, which she hopes to sell at two remaining charity auctions, one of them Saturday.
Ferrey would like to sell the war rugs, too, but as a group to a museum or collector who appreciates the art and suffering of the people who made them.
"They're proud and very arrogant people," she said. "A lot like Americans."
Tory Ferrey's collection of about 40 Afghan tribal "war rugs" includes designs from the 1979-89 occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and 9/11's aftermath.
If You Go Tory Ferrey and Deb Lauer are having two final rug sales for charity. The first will be from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at the White Bear Lake Armory, 2228 Fourth St., White Bear Lake. Proceeds benefit the Partnership for Education of Children in Afghanistan. Rugs range in price from $40 to $800, depending on the size and condition. Many of the rugs have been used in Afghan homes.
The second sale will be April 21 at the Urban Arts Academy, 3901 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis. Proceeds will be split between the academy and an Afghan relief group.
BY MARY BAUER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 03/23/2007 07:06:30 AM CDT
Tory Ferrey sits among a collection of her Afghan tribal "war rugs" including one depicting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City in the Mahtomedi home of her friend Deb Lauer. (BEN GARVIN, Pioneer Press)Tory Ferrey's custom bumper sticker might read: Make rugs, not war. But the White Bear Lake resident does not object to art that does both: war rugs.
"At first I didn't want any of them," she said. "I thought they were kind of grisly. But we were able to get them."
Ferrey, a teacher's aide in the Mahtomedi school district, has about 40 Afghan tribal war rugs that depict everything from arrowheads to AK-47s. They make up a small part of her collection of Persian rugs that once numbered 600.
War rugs have become highly collectible in the past decade for a number of reasons.
Some of the appeal lies in the surprise factor, said Mark Traxler, of Mankato, Minn., a tribal rug collector and rug weaver well-known on rug-related Internet sites.
Traxler collects pieces 150 years old or older, but he has watched with interest as war rugs bloomed in the past decade.
"Western images of tanks and helicopters represented in a Middle Eastern form does not fit your idea of a normal Oriental rug," he said. "At the same time, it reflects something about weaving, in general, as representative art."
The weavers, he said, were trying to portray things important in their worlds, or in the case of tanks and machine guns, startling additions to their lives.
Added Ferrey: "They document everything that happens to them" in art.
The sense that the rugs portray an important time in history likely also appeals to some collectors, Traxler said.
Also, the supply of quality antique rugs has shrunk, he said, and what is for sale is exorbitantly priced.
"But you can obtain a meaningful piece of this new form for less money," he said.
Ferrey stumbled onto war rugs three years ago through her son, Nathan, then 9. He spotted a rug on the Internet auction site eBay and asked her to buy it. She thought it was a prayer rug until it arrived, when she could clearly make out images of helicopters, fighter jets and convoys. A city was being bombed.
The modern era of war rugs begins with the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. One rug shows the bombing of a mosque. Another shows Soviet tanks headed away from Afghanistan, with deer stags, a favorite symbol of Afghan rugs, featured prominently.
As a collector, Ferrey is less interested in value than in workmanship and symbolism. She can tell the approximate age of a rug by the change in weaponry and materials. In recent years, the guns have gotten smaller, she said, and the helicopters bigger.
Two Sept. 11 patterns have become much copied, she said. She avoided the one depicting bodies falling from the flaming World Trade Center towers and chose another that included a dove. Shortly after the 9/11 rugs emerged, another design appeared showing Afghans helping U.S. troops search in Tora Bora for Osama bin Laden.
Imagery is more subtle in other rugs. She points to what at first glance seems to be a prayer rug.
"It's a very pretty rug, and then you realize this is a truck convoy around the border," she said.
English words are often misspelled. Most of the female weavers, she said, don't speak English and are likely copying unfamiliar symbols from paper.
War rugs have caught on among collectors in recent years, but Ferrey and Traxler said they are ancient in practice. Ferrey pulled out a rug with prominent horses rimmed with arrowheads, signs of power and conflict.
"It's part of being men," she said. "They're proud of their weapons. These
rugs were never made for women."
The rugs make for good lessons in talks she has given to church groups with her friend Deb Lauer, of Mahtomedi, also an aide in the Mahtomedi school district. Men in the audience perk up at the sight and pick out the different makes of guns and grenades.
Ferrey and Lauer have sold much of Ferrey's larger collection over the past two years to benefit various charities, including Afghan education. They've raised $38,000 so far, and Ferrey is down to about 200 rugs, which she hopes to sell at two remaining charity auctions, one of them Saturday.
Ferrey would like to sell the war rugs, too, but as a group to a museum or collector who appreciates the art and suffering of the people who made them.
"They're proud and very arrogant people," she said. "A lot like Americans."
Tory Ferrey's collection of about 40 Afghan tribal "war rugs" includes designs from the 1979-89 occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and 9/11's aftermath.
If You Go Tory Ferrey and Deb Lauer are having two final rug sales for charity. The first will be from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at the White Bear Lake Armory, 2228 Fourth St., White Bear Lake. Proceeds benefit the Partnership for Education of Children in Afghanistan. Rugs range in price from $40 to $800, depending on the size and condition. Many of the rugs have been used in Afghan homes.
The second sale will be April 21 at the Urban Arts Academy, 3901 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis. Proceeds will be split between the academy and an Afghan relief group.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Oriental rugs and stuff
Hello,
I spent some time today reviewing my Guide to Timuri Rugs and freshening it up a bit. I wish I had my library set but I have to do it all from memory. As I go along I learn a little along the way. One of the next articles that needs attention is The Hazara A Historical Examination Of The Probable Origins Of An Improbable People. That was a wonderful article for me. I wrote it very early in my rug studies and I think it stands up pretty well.
It is funny how my Rug Notes work. I suffer from depression. I have avoided getting it treated because I have periodic episodes of brilliance and I worry if I get medicated to end the low periods I will also remove the high points. So I created my Rug Notes as a cure for depression. The worse it gets, the more creative I become. So my best work is the product of stress, exhaustion and depression. I sometimes suspect if I cured the depression I would give up rug studies and watch TV. Right now I am under more stress than any point in my life so I am getting a lot of work done.
As many of you know I dabble in politics. I was just offered a monthly retainer from one of the major democratic Presidential candidates. I did the data bases for John Kerry's battle ground states campaign in the last campaign and one of my associates took one of my ideas and pitched the major Democrat Presidential candidates on it. For now we said no since the money was not right but I may get dragged back into that vile mess that we call Presidential politics. The funny part is that like usual I am broke and could really use the money but for now I will compare offers and hope that my favorite candidate calls. In politics the more you charge the more they respect you, so it is important to make the right deal. In the last Presidential I charged enough that everyone was nice to me. Not too long ago I did a freebie for a candidate. Consequently he felt free to ignore my advise and the SOB never even said thank you. He lost and I will avoid that trap again.
Best wishes,
Barry
I spent some time today reviewing my Guide to Timuri Rugs and freshening it up a bit. I wish I had my library set but I have to do it all from memory. As I go along I learn a little along the way. One of the next articles that needs attention is The Hazara A Historical Examination Of The Probable Origins Of An Improbable People. That was a wonderful article for me. I wrote it very early in my rug studies and I think it stands up pretty well.
It is funny how my Rug Notes work. I suffer from depression. I have avoided getting it treated because I have periodic episodes of brilliance and I worry if I get medicated to end the low periods I will also remove the high points. So I created my Rug Notes as a cure for depression. The worse it gets, the more creative I become. So my best work is the product of stress, exhaustion and depression. I sometimes suspect if I cured the depression I would give up rug studies and watch TV. Right now I am under more stress than any point in my life so I am getting a lot of work done.
As many of you know I dabble in politics. I was just offered a monthly retainer from one of the major democratic Presidential candidates. I did the data bases for John Kerry's battle ground states campaign in the last campaign and one of my associates took one of my ideas and pitched the major Democrat Presidential candidates on it. For now we said no since the money was not right but I may get dragged back into that vile mess that we call Presidential politics. The funny part is that like usual I am broke and could really use the money but for now I will compare offers and hope that my favorite candidate calls. In politics the more you charge the more they respect you, so it is important to make the right deal. In the last Presidential I charged enough that everyone was nice to me. Not too long ago I did a freebie for a candidate. Consequently he felt free to ignore my advise and the SOB never even said thank you. He lost and I will avoid that trap again.
Best wishes,
Barry
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