Updated July 12, 2010 :
October meeting: save the date

Link to Virtual version of Textile Museum appreciation Morning.
Thank you R. John Howe!


Save the date

Save the date of October 15, 2010 for an SFBARS meeting/exhibition hosted by Tom Cole in San Rafael.
More information to follow.


Message from the President

As many of you may have noticed, this past SFBARS season has been a year of stops and starts. We have had to skip some months and delay our plans for another silent auction and annual party. In part this has been due to some unexpected medical issues for your President. On the other hand SFBARS has carried off a number of interesting and well-attended programs in this past year, including those that coincided with the October ARTS rug gathering at the Capri Motel in San Francisco and the February Tribal Arts show. We gathered at Jim Dixon's Occidental home in October; in February we had an exciting show and tell on Uzbek and Kyrgyz weavings and also co-sponsered the Jones Memorial Lecture at the deYoung, followed by the well attended reception. In January we enjoyed a great lecture from Carol Bier on the suzanis in the Doris Duke museum in Honolulu for our annual get together with the Armenian Rug Society, a tradition that we intend to continue in 2011.

Although some of you may feel we have had too many events with a Central Asian theme, in part because that is your President's parochial interest, we did venture in the area of Sumatran textiles (in September) and Kurdish bags (in October). I would like to encourage events in other areas as well. Members with an interest or expertise in Navajo, Andean or Tibetan weavings who would be willing to talk to us should contact me.

For next year, the 2010-2011 season, we have already lined up events for November, January (again in conjuction with the Armenian Rug Society) and March. In conjunction with the ACOR travel grants for foreign visitors and with our sister organizations in Los Angeles and Seattle, Stefan Ionescu will talk to us in November about Anatolian carpets in Italy. Some of you may know Stefan from his scholarship and tours of Romanian Ottoman carpets. In January, the Istanbul based conservator Paul Hepworth will talk about the aesthetics of the Persian arden carpet. And in March 2011 the Austrian collector and scholar Peter Bichler will talk about Ottoman kilims. In addition we will be co-sponsoring once again the annual Caroline and McCoy Jones Memorial Lecture at the deYoung Museum.

I also would like to hold two social events, hopefully with the help of some volunteers from the Membership: the silent auction of donated materials and another "moth market" evening for members to show off and buy and sell their items.

In order to keep new ideas flowing to your Society, I would like to ask again for volunteers to join our Board who have the interest and commitment to help with programs, especially with meeting, greeting, hosting and helping to run the events involving visiting speakers from overseas.

Finally as I have mentioned in the past, i would like to pass the baton of President at the end of next year's programs (May 2011, before I leave for the Stockholm ICOC) to a new President who will take on the task of leading the Society for the next few years, with the committed assistance of our excellent activist board members. If there are members who have an interest in taking on the role of President, or in joining our Board, please contact Peter Poullada at the email address or telephone number listed below.

Thank you all for another helping to make 2009-2010 a successful year of programs and social events! Best wishes,

Peter Poullada,

sppoullada@sbcglobal.net; tel. 415-602-0709


ICOC in 2011

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THE 12th ICOC

IN STOCKHOLM AND ST. PETERSBURG

In June of 2011, ICOC will offer a veritable smorgasbord of unexpected discoveries, receptions and festive cultural events that are sure to appeal to enthusiasts and aficionados, expert collectors, scholars and dealers from around the world.

Mark your calendars now! The 12th ICOC will be held in beautiful Stockholm from June 16-19, 2011. An art-filled pre-conference tour takes you to Copenhagen. And a post-Conference tour to St. Petersburg, Russia will cap off your unforgettable ICOC experience. June is a wonderful time to visit these wonderful cities with their rivers, canals, cultural sites and architecture.

The Conference in Stockholm, June 16-19, is the ideal destination and the perfect season to enjoy educational lectures from international experts, a robust International Dealers’ Fair and several exhibitions of rugs and textiles from private collections. A special exhibition of rare Turkmen carpets and trappings is being organized. The hotels that we recommend are situated very close to the Central train station and are within easy reach of the Conference Center.

Your evenings will be filled with receptions and visits to exhibitions at several museums and the Royal Palace. Feast your eyes on the world famous ‘Marby’ rug, as well as 17th century Transylvanian rugs, glorious ‘Polonaise’ carpets, colorful 18th century Swedish folk art textiles, and the widely published Safavid silk velvet coat that belonged to Queen Christina. And this is just a sampling!

The pre-Conference tour to Copenhagen, June 14-15, features the stunning new installation of the David Collection, which has one of the finest collections of Islamic Art in Europe, including a small Mamluk rug, a large Seljuk carpet, a ‘Salting’ rug, a millefleurs Mughal rug, an early Persian Safavid carpet and fabulous early Islamic textiles -- as well as many outstanding European works of art.

See the wonderful Rosenborg Royal castle built by King Christian IV in 1606. In "The Knights' Hall,” twelve tapestries from 1675-1679 show the King's victories in the Scanian War. This Hall also holds all the 17th century Coronation ‘Polonaise’ carpets and they will be on view together exclusively for our group.

Copenhagen’s Museum of Applied Arts will display some Islamic textiles and we will visit a Royal apartment at Amalienborg Palace where the Royal family lives today. A leisurely boat tour under the bridges of Copenhagen will give you a sea-view of this remarkable Danish city and its harbor.

The post-Conference tour to St. Petersburg, Russia, June 21-24, promises to be one of the most remarkable highlights of all previous ICOC events. You will have rare private access to many famous carpets and textiles in the storage rooms of the world famous Hermitage Museum. Marvel at the venerable Pazyryk Carpet and the splendid Scythian material right before your eyes.

The Russian Museum of Ethnography will give us rare entry to its storage areas and a special rug exhibition, organized exclusively for the ICOC tour group by its renowned former curator, Dr. Elena Tsareva, now at the Kunstkamera Museum. A boat tour of the River Neva and St. Petersburg’s canals will give you a unique perspective on Peter the Great’s ideal city and its historic architecture. We will also visit one of the splendid Summer Palaces.

Please join us in making the 12th ICOC an exciting and educational destination in June next year. Soon we will announce our special conference website where you may register for all of these great events! For now, go to www.ICOC-orientalrugs.org.

Dennis Dodds
Secretary-general, ICOC



CALL FOR PAPERS

Information and discussion will be found on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Conference-on-Oriental-Carpets/192869306455

Although it is not yet complete, more information and registration will be at the Stockholm conference website: http://www.icoc2011stockholm.se/

However, information and instructions can be found there for our first priority: inviting submissions for proposals to the Academic Sessions. The Call For Papers is on the Stockholm website. For the Stockholm conference, we have a new system for submitting paper proposal and abstracts.

Instead of submitting proposals directly to Alberto Boralevi (the Chair of the Academic Committee), proposals should be uploaded directly on the Conference web-site shown above. Just click on the link for online Paper Submission and follow the instructions.

You will notice that we have decided to upgrade as much as possible the quality of presentations at the next Conference. For this reason, we have also decided to reduce the number of accepted papers to a maximum of 40. Only oral presentations will be accepted for ICOC-XII. There will be no Poster Sessions.

Thank you.


Wendel Swan

Chair, ICOC Executive Committee


May 23, 2010

Dear folks –

This is to announce publication of a virtual version of a Rug and Textile Appreciation Morning, given by Amy Gould and Matthew Polk , at The Textile Museum here in Washington , D.C. on February 27, 2010.

Amy and Matthew, as this post details, have independent areas of considerable personal and professional accomplishment, and are serious textile collectors in several areas. Amy is a current Textile Museum trustee.

The focus their talk here was on a group of Andean tunics which they have carbon dated.

Amy provided a historical survey of the universe of Andean textiles, and Matthew led us through an experiential exercise, in which we had a chance to compare the results of our estimates of the age of the Andean tunics (using our traditional indicators) with the results of the carbon dating of them. As part of his treatment, Matthew explained the current state of the art with regard to carbon dating and provided some reasons why, despite admitted problems with it, he believes it should not be discarded as an age-estimating tool.

The purpose of this email is to announce publication of a virtual version of this interesting program and to provide you with a link for viewing it. You can enjoy this program by accessing it on my blog using the following link:

Link to “Textiles and text”
http://rjohnhowe.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/carbon-dating-for-andean-textiles/

Either double click on the link itself, or copy and paste it into your browser and then hit “enter.” That will take you to the “front page” of my blog “Textiles and Text.”

This “Andean-Carbon Dating” program is conveyed in the first entry in red in the column on the right.

R. John Howe


Duke Collection
References

When Carol Bier spoke to us in January, she promised to provide certain references people asked about. here they are:

Doris Duke's Shangri La -
http://shangrilahawaii.org/ is the site for the house itself with an option to Tour the Property, among many other options

Here is the database of the collection that is searchable on the web -
http://www.shangrilahawaii.org/page.asp?pageId=295

Information about Doris Duke the Collector -
http://www.shangrilahawaii.org/page.asp?pageId=232

Here is where you can download a PDF of the book "Doris Duke's Shangri La" by
Sharon Littlefield with an Introduction by Carol Bier -
http://www.shangrilahawaii.org/page.asp?pageId+279

Special announcement

Link to “What is a “Weaving?” What is Not? And Why?"
http://rjohnhowe.wordpress.com/







Membership Renewal Don’t forget to renew your membership; we now keep memberships on an annual basis, starting the first of the year. A form is attached for your use. We also welcome new members, if you wish to pass it to someone else.


Silk Road Exhibit The American Museum of Natural History in New York is presenting “Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World” through August 15. For museum information, got to http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/silkroad/. For a review of the exhibit, see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/arts/design/13silk.html


San Francisco Bay Area Rug Society

A California Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation*


RENEW MEMBERSHIP for 2010

TO RECEIVE THE NEXT NEWSLETTER

Membership Rates:

Please Note: Fees are on an annual basis, and entitle members to receive the newsletter by email with notices of meetings and other events. If you wish to receive your newsletter by postal service, you will be charged an additional $10 for the added cost of printing and stamps. Please select your membership category and submit your email or postal mailing address below.



c Contributions to the Honorarium Fund provide additional support for programs and speakers. I wish to contribute $____________

c I am willing to host speakers visiting the Bay Area.

Please send your subscriptions/renewals (checks made out to SFBARS) to:

SFBARS c/o J. Van Lang

6 Muir Avenue, Piedmont CA. 94610

Thank you for your participation and ongoing interest in SFBARS.

Sincerely, Membership Information:

Name:
Jacqueline Van Lang Address:
Director of Membership/Subscriptions
email: jvanlang@hotmail.com Email:
Phone (optional):
.




SFBARS Board Members

Peter Poullada President

Jon Eldan Secretary

Renee Rausin Treasurer

Jacqueline Van Lang Membership

Elizabeth Shedd Newsletter

Hillary Dumas Webmaster

Jim Dixon

Sandra Whitman

Ben Banyan

Murray Eiland Emeritus

Pat Leiser Emerita

John Sommer, M.D. Emeritus

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Members may contact Peter Poullada at sppoullada@sbcglobal.net.

The San Francisco Bay Area Rug Society is a nonprofit organization whose publications and events are supported by your subscriptions. Individual subscriptions are $40 annually, $60 for two people at the same address. Please send renewals, address changes, or subscriptions to Jacqueline Van Lang, SFBARS Membership, 6 Muir Ave., Piedmont, CA 94610. jvanlang@hotmail.com. For more information about SFBARS, including information about membership, an archive of past Newsletter articles, rug pictures and other features, please explore the SFBARS website at www.sfbars.org.

All SFBARS Dealers SFBARS has a large stock of the exhibition catalogue, Oriental Rugs from Pacific Collections by Murray Eiland, from the 1990 ICOC conference in San Francisco. We are eager to donate them to interested galleries and dealers who will help the Society solicit NEW MEMBERS. If you are interested, please contact Peter Poullada

: Peter Poullada


Oriental Rugs in Medieval European Paintings Oriental Rugs in Medieval European Paintings, from Azerbaijanrugs.com

Article by Jim Allen. Early Turkoman Design Evolution

online exhibition. Trefoil show

TREFOIL--1990 show at Mills College. (web page in process)


ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Armenian Rugs Society maintains a database of inscribed Armenian rugs. see: A rmenian rug society

"We would always appreciate hearing about your inscribed Armenian rug and invite you to add it to our growing database Please contact us us at info@armenianrugssociety.com "


A few photos from the June 10th meeting at Jim Dixon's

For some interesting photos of ICOC Istanbul see

http://krauss.ws/travel/t/indext.ht m

and

Turkotek.com

(discussion forums/traveler's reports)

and, of course,

Hali.com


Passages

GIL DUMAS (1928-June 19, 2008)

PETER LYMAN (1940-2007)

The Bay Area rug community has lost a special person. Peter Lyman passed away on July 2, after a battle with cancer. He was 66. Peter was a past president of SFBARS and an editor of the newsletter. He was an active and knowledgeable collector of antique oriental rugs and other art objects, mainly from the Himalayas and China. Those of us who knew Peter can testify to his extraordinary passion for art and his wide-ranging interests and tastes in both antique and contemporary works.

Well traveled and read, Peter knew the art and artifacts of many traditional cultures, especially in the area of rugs and other textiles. Peter was known as somebody who always extended himself to others with warmth, concern, thoughtfulness, and kindheartedness. He was particularly supportive of dealers and other collectors, always offering helpful advice and an encouraging word.

Peter felt strongly about furthering a public presence and appreciation for art. Among other art-related activities, he donated important pieces to museums, and he worked with the Art History Information Project at the Getty Trust. Peter was also a board member of the Textile Arts Council. In addition to his talents as a collector of Asian art, Peter was a gifted and dedicated teacher. Known for his exceptional mentoring skills, he developed an almost legendary reputation among his students.

Peter taught for many years at Michigan State, followed by a highly successful stay at the University of Southern California, where he revolutionized the university library for the new digital age. He moved to Berkeley after being appointed to the position of University of California Librarian. Most recently, he served as Professor in The School of Information at UC Berkeley, becoming known for his research on online information and social networks on the Internet. Peter was an inveterate art lover, a talented and accomplished person, and a caring and giving human being. His presence, vision, and generosity will be sorely missed.

A memorial service for Peter will he beheld between 5 and 7 pm on Tuesday, September 11, in the Morrison Room in Doe Library at the UC Berkeley campus. Those wanting to honor his memory are invited to contribute to the newly established Peter Lyman raduate Fellowship in New Media. Checks should be addressed to the UC Berkeley Foundation and sent to the UC Center for New Media, 390 Wurster Hall, # 1066, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-4600.

Robert Dunn

CHARLES LAVE

I recently received the following message about Charles Lave whom many of you know.
It is with great sadness that we inform you and your rug society members of the death of Charles Lave, who passed away on May 2. The cause of death was complications arising from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a progressive bone marrow stem cell disorder. According to his wife Bethany Mendenhall, he experienced a gradual decline in health following his diagnosis early last fall, and he passed away peacefully last Friday at his Irvine, California, home. As you know, Charles was both a respected textile collector and one of ACOR˘s most influential organizers, having spearheaded, along with Bethany, the management of the dealer fairs for many past rug conferences. He was a towering presence among his rug world peers, and his knowledge, energy, and memorable personality will long be missed. Bethany reports that a memorial service is being planned, probably to take place in the early fall. Meanwhile, she can be reached via mail at Post Office Box 6094, Irvine, CA 92616, by phone at 949-856-0485, and by email at bmendenhall@cox.net.

JOSEPHINE POWELL,

A great friend of the Oriental Carpet has recently died.
H.D.

NANCY NORRIS-LONDON

It is also with great sadness that we announce the untimely death of a friend, colleague and (past) member of SFBARS, Nancy Norris-London. Nancy died this past July in the care of her loving family. She, as many of you know, was passionate about both carpets and textiles and was deeply connected to both communities. To honor her, the Nancy Norris-London Memorial Fund has been established by the Textile Arts Council of San Francisco. Donations will be used to purchase an item (or items) that will be given to the Textile Department of the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums (de Young and Legion of Honor). Contributions should be sent to the Textile Arts Council, de Young Museum, 500 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118, with Nancy Norris-London's name in the memo portion of the check. All contributions are tax deductible.
Kathy Judkins

ROGER CAVANNA

On the Subject of Memorials I wanted to pay a belated tribute to Roger Cavanna, a delightful, generous spirit and loyal supporter of the Society, who passed away last year.
I knew Roger for over twenty years and found him to be one of those real originals, with a passion and love for both carpets and for Persia that was always inspiring. We are proud that his family are keeping the tradition alive in the Bay Area and welcome them as Members.

PP


SFBARS MEMBER QUESTIONNAIRE

In the interest of planning future events, the SFBARS Board wishes to solicit opinions and suggestions from our members. Please read the following questions carefully and fill out your answers as indicated. We hope this information will assist us in mapping our program schedule for the coming months.

1. In addition to presentations and lectures, what kinds of events would you like to see SFBARS put on?

2. What is important to you in attending SFBARS events?

Learning opportunities ______________
Social exchanges __________________
Viewing pleasures _________________
Other (explain) _______________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

3. What do you like or dislike about our current program?

4. Would you be willing to pay extra for special events such as workshops, seminars, or conferences?

yes ______
no ______

5. What thoughts or ideas do you have for making SFBARS more interesting, exciting, and worthwhile (use back of sheet if necessary)?

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Some of you have expressed an interest in receiving the newsletter by email. The SFBARS Board recently discussed the matter and has decided to request that all members send us their email addresses. For those of you who choose this option, it would serve a number of useful purposes. First, an emailed newsletter would avoid both the perils and expenses of the postal service. Second, it would give us a quick and effective means of contacting you in special circumstances, e.g. cancelled events or new or lost addresses and/or phone numbers. Generally, your email addresses would add an extra layer of contact and communication between the board and the membership.

Those of you who are interested in this option should send your email addresses to the following people:

************** :Jacqueline Van Lang, Membership


Articles and Reviews

"Mughal Rugs Revisited .

Moghul Rugs: A Controversy Revisited

Steven Cohen's article "Indian or Persian?" in Hali [1], , regarding the three recently discovered 17th century classic carpets in San Francisco's Asian Art Museum (AAM) once again brings up the decades old controversy about just where the “Indo-Persian” rugs were made. Rug specialists continue to argue over the Persian versus Indian origin of these rugs--an argument which has led to a bewildering array of designations: Herat, Esfahan, Indo-Persian, Indo-Isfahan, Indo-Portuguese, Lahore, Agra, Mughal, etc.

Mughal Rugs: A Controversy Revisited continued: full article

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"Holbein" variant .

Painting of a Para Mamluk or "Holbein" variant rug

A hitherto unknown type of "Holbein" variant rug appears in a painting dated 1504 that covers one of the two shutters of the cathedral's organ in The Cathedral Saint Jean Baptiste, Perpignon, France. The paintings are nearly 40 feet high...


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A few Kazak photos

"Indo/Persians" Appendix: 100 Years of Opinions: 1900-2004
Ersari
Mosaics: by Pat Leiser
Curious fragment
Curious fragment revisited
Armenian exhibition
Potpourri icoc exhibition
Discovery of Mughal rugs
Afghan War Rugs
Syrian rugs
Rug forgery: by Diane Mott
Rugs in Paintings (bibliography): by Pamela Bensoussan ASA

Elena Tsareva spoke to us: by John Sommers

Book Reviews: (click on link)

Review of The Nomadic Peoples of Iran by Peter Poullada

More photos: (click on link)

Heavenly Gardens
Occidental
SFBARS Potpourri show ICOC

Past Meetings of SFBARS

1995-1998

1999-2000

2001-2003

2004

2005

2006

Past Newsletters

February 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

September 2008

October 2008

December 2008

February 2009

March 2009

May 2009

September 2008

September 2009

October2009

past events


Contacts

sfbars president: Peter Poullada
For website information please contact Hillary Dumas

(flying carpet circa 1974)
:Hillary


Thanks for dropping by!

The San Francisco Bay Area Rug Society is a nonprofit organization whose publications and events are supported by your subscriptions. Individual subscriptions are $45 annually, $60 for two people at the same address. $10 reduction for e-mail subscriptions only. $15 for students with ID. Please send renewals, address changes, or subscriptions to Jacqueline Van Lang, SFBARS Membership, 6 Muir Ave., Piedmont, CA 94610. :Jacqueline Van Lang, Membership

For more information about SFBARS, including information about membership, an archive of past Newsletter articles, rug pictures and other features, please explore the SFBARS website at www.sfbars.org. >

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