IMAGE DETAILS

Peter Hoffmeister, Markus and Andrea Voigt welcome guests to the Pfarrhof

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10 October 2005

For just an autumn weekend at the end of September, the old 17th century Pfarrhof (parsonage) in the shadow of the baroque church tower of the remote Bavarian village of Pürkwang, midway between Munich and the historic city of Regensburg, was transformed into a Turkomaniacs paradise, reports Daniel Shaffer.

The annual meeting of the German Turkmen Carpet Collector's Group, this year featuring an exhibition of some one hundred and fifty main carpets, tent door rugs, tent-bags and trappings and tent-bands from the Hoffmeister Collection, was held in the astonishing home and gallery of Markus and Andrea Voigt (30 September – 2 October 2005).

A huge array of tent bags and trappings, as well as some two dozen ensis were hanging in the lower floor galleries of the Pfarrhof. The vast room above, normally the Voigt's sitting room and library, comfortably accommodated the lecture programme, the show and tell of Hoffmeister's exemplary groups of main carpets and tent-bands, and on one occasion was also instantly turned into a dining room for the gathered masses. Attendance overall was impressive, with visitors from the UK and the USA in addition to those from Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The organisation was superb, the company congenial, and the event a great success.

For many of the one hundred plus attendees, the true white-knuckle collectors of this genre (not all of whom are German), it really must have been a "Have I died and gone to heaven" experience. The diversity and quality of the collection, and the knowledge and erudition of the premier participants in the accompanying lecture programme (Elena Tsareva, Dietmar Pelz, Uwe Bauer and of course Peter Hofffmeister himself) and show-and-tell (moderated by the urbane Hans Sienknecht), went a long way towards restoring my faith (I am essentially an agnostic in the field of red rugs) in Turkmen weaving and collecting.

This is not collecting by numbers. The Hoffmeister collection shows a very definite bias towards the work of some tribes – notably the Middle Amu Darya complex of 'Ersari' types, as well as Saryk, Salor, Tekke and Chodor pieces. By contrast, the vastly prolific weavers of the wider Yomut family are noticeably under-reptesented. At the same time, he demonstrates a rather un-Germanic lack of concern for condition. There are relatively few glossy, shiny, perfect condition 'celebrity' weavings in the collection, but rather a mixture of graphically and chromatically beautiful pieces alongside those that are of undoubted scientific interest, many fragmentary or in distressed condition. And given his long experience as a specialist collector, Hoffmeister has been able to weed the collection, so that what remains really is quality.

This is not the place to go into specific highlights of the display. Suffice it to say that among the 'best-of-types' that were included in the exhibit and show-and-tell was quite simply the best Turkmen tent band any of the participants had ever seen. Formerly owned by the late Hans Elmby, it will remain in the memory long after most of the other things I saw have blurred back into overwhelming redness.