ISSUE 150 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007

CONTENTS & EDITORIAL

21 | LETTERS Turkmen main carpets and felt asmalyks.

23 | NEWS A rug memoir; Michel Hakimi obituary.

26 | OUTLOOK Indigo dyeing in Taipei and Hyderabad.

29 | PREVIEW Exhibitions: Indigo at the Whitworth; Baluchs in Milan. Fairs:Bergamo Textile Art Show

37 | CALENDAR Auctions, exhibitions, fairs and conferences.

41 | GALLERY House style advertisements.

47 | BOOKS Gardens of Eternal Spring; The Shan; Oriental Rugs.

51 | ICOC EXHIBTIONS PREVIEW Highlights of Istanbul’s institutional exhibitions.

68 | CAPTURING THE MOMENT. Constantinople through the photographer’slens Anthony Hazledine 19th century photos of the Ottoman Empire.

70 | DOLMABAHÇE PALACE Pre-ICOC exhibition of Ottoman Palace carpets.

76 | THE KHITAN. Their artand their textiles907 - 1125 Michael Franses Artefacts from the Liao dynasty art of Khitan.

86 | WRITTEN IN SILK. Meifa Li head clothswith writing Lee J. Chinalai Embroideredtextiles from the island of Hainan.

90 | SOUTH PERSIAN TRIBAL WEAVINGS. PartOne: Their use in nomadiclife Ann Nicholas & Richard Blumenthal Two collectors examine the life of the nomads.

117 | REVIEW Exhibitions: Berlin’s Volkmanntreffen; David Collection; Smend Batiks; Greek Embroidery.

128 | AUCTION PRICE GUIDE Autumn sales in London, Wiesbaden and Dublin.

137 | DESIGN FILE Carpets by LA-basedArt Resources.

145 | NETWORK Classified advertisements.

150 | PROFILE New York rug company Beauvais Carpets.

155 | PARTING SHOTS Washington, Mallorca and AsianArt in London.

156 | ON THE MARKET Baluch bag-faces over $1000

Our 150th edition is an important landmark for HALI. This is not simply because it offers an appropriate peg on which to hang our celebrations but it comes at a time when there are several important changes to HALI the magazine and HALI as a business. The first of these is the news that there will be no HALI Fair in 2007. Having undertaken a detailed review of the fair we proposed a new formula to exhibitors. Since this did not result in a sufficient number committing to a 2007 edition, we have decided to postpone the event and continue discussions. One thing that our investigations cannot change though is that although London is a enticing international fair venue, the real costs involved in living and exhibiting in London over a week or ten days mean that visiting foreign dealers must balance their options very carefully. That is not to say we have dispensed with the HALI Fair altogether; over the next year we will find a better way to proceed and the market should expect an entirely new HALI Fair for 2008. Another significant change for the new year involves the frequency of publication of HALI. This is the last bi-monthly HALI that you will receive.As of HALI 151 the magazine will appear quarterly, returning to its originalpublication rhythm in the early years after its founding in 1978. The first thing to say is that this does not affect the number of magazines in your subscription. All subscribers will receive the number of issues that they originally signed up for, but the time frame during which they will be delivered has been lengthened: i.e. six issues, previously a one-year subscription, will now run for a year and a half; while an old-style twoyear subscription of 12 issues, becomes a three year subscription and so forth. We will deliver the same amount of editorial pages as we have done in the bi-monthly schedule but over a three monthly period. There are very good reasons for us to radically rethink the way in which weserve our subscribers. The world and the art market have changed over thelast ten to fifteen years and it is time for HALI to reflect these changes. Inthis age of instant communication, events demand immediate responses and quick analysis. For example the remarkable sales results from the Vojtech Blau and regular December auction at Sotheby’s in New York (which totalled over $8m) and Freeman’s in Philadelphia, (where a Caucasian “Sunburst Kazak” sold for $341,625) were international news withinhours of the hammer falling on our website and clearly the world-wide-web is the right place for this reporting: sharp and up-to-date. By contrast, any print product must command its unique place in the arts world by virtue of concentrating on its strengths, which in HALI’s case means original and exclusive material and unique editorial insight. Since its foundation HALI has been encyclopaedic in its classification and definition of rug and textile types, and this will continue, but we will increasingly aim to foster a debate around connoisseurship, to concentrate

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THE COVER

Kilim fragment, Central Anatolia, before 1800. 1.72 x 3.60m (5'8" x 11'10"). Published here foronly the second time, this kilim divided into compartments, with four directional motifs, has an extremely rare design that is archaic, iconic as well as unremittingly modern. It will be displayed during the 2007 ICOC from 19-22 April in Istanbul at the Vakıflar’s new kilim museum within a special exhibition of carpets and kilims. It is an extremely good news that the ICOC’s arrival in Istanbul has helped the Vakıflar Foundation commit considerable resources to professionally cleaning, conserving and photographing its holdings. This is part of a broader programme by the Vakıflar Foundation to establish over a dozen regional carpet museums throughout its depots in Turkey. Vakıflar Museum, Istanbul, Inv. no. S93

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