Edoardo Concaro writes: It was raining and the roads were covered with frogs. A crepuscular atmosphere lit only by some late summer enthusiasm pervaded the rooms of the 'Pila' whose damp silence was now filled with colour clashes and mercantile murmurings. In these rooms, at one time, coarse rice was stored and processed for local tables. Today the majority of Lomellino rice is exported for the kitchens of those who appreciate 'real' rice.
Alberto Boralevi, with his convincing tenaciousness, had managed to overcome resistance and scepticism, garnered support and gathered together 36 friends from near and far. The porticos, accustomed to the dialects of the Po region, instead heard English, Turkish, French, German and Persian spoken.
The dense and colourful view of the filled rooms presented the Old World in all its vastness (although the New was missing: no Paracas or Aimara; no saltillos or Hopi blankets). From the walls hung Caucasian dragon carpets (Langauer, Vienna), rectilinear Heriz and curvilinear Tabriz (Massimo Lucianò, Milan), a well-drawn Karapinar of good age (Richard Purdon, London), a small rug – called Transylvanian but probably Ghiordes – that was exceptional because of its specular paired columns forming a double niche (Franco dell'Orto, Venice), a yellow-ground carpet with rustic drawing and incredibly sophisticated colouring (Stefano Susca, Milan), an early 19th century Yomud C-gul flanked, in contrast, by an immaculate Ottoman Bohça (Tony d'Orsi, Athens). And then there were fragments small and large, of which there are an increasing number. This is either as a result of exhausted stocks, or of the maturing of a better-informed public able to distinguish and comprehend.
The most outstanding piece was a three-metre-high tapestry exhibited by David Sorgato, who had a sensational chapan in silk velvet in the opposite corner of his stand, with a humble Japanese farmer or fisherman's outer garment as a counter-attraction. Jacqueline De Boel had brought from Antwerp a finely finished 19th century Indian embroidery in silk on silk, while Stefano Filippi (Genoa) countered exuberant Art Deco hangings with the monochrome tones of beautifully preserved 17th century embroideries. The extenuated elegance of the barely perceptible ton-sur-ton ivory of a Chinese carpet with a rare blue-ground border from Roby Parvizar (Milan) was echoed by a monochrome textile of archaeological flavour in camel wool, with compressed knots as big as grapes, brought from eastern Anatolia by Augusto Rillosi (Venice). That well-known Florentine pair, the Boralevi brothers, exhibited separately, Alberto showing a museum-quality 19th century Sardinian blanket worked in the 'pibiones' (knot) technique, Daniele a substantially virgin Kazak Sewan. Archimede & Lazzerini showed both sides of a double-faced gabbeh of excellent age, preservation and luminosity. Ziya Bozoglu, the Perugian Turk, who made his debut here 15 years ago, displayed an Anatolian kilim, in the drawing of whose niche some deity must have had a hand.
The cultural exhibition which ran parallel to the fair, curated by the undersigned, centred on Turkmenistan and neighbouring areas provided points for reflection. A tiny chapan for a child (surely the master's son) in silk velvet attracted attention along with two begli eshik tish, a Yomud similar to one in the Textile Museum already published at the ICOC in Milan (1999), and the unexpected appearance of an 18th century (or earlier) main carpet with cotton wefts from a Yomud group, which has as its major ornament a tauk nuska gul and a C- gul as the minor one, only another five examples of the composition of which are known, all dating from the late 19th century.
Still on the subject of cultural diffusion, an interested audience participated actively in lectures given by the professor of cultural anthropology Anna Casella Paltrinieri, who with her 'Reflections on Central Asian nomadism' opened a window onto a world perhaps previously insufficiently considered by tapetologists. Well-known scholar Cristina Bellini expanded on her 'Sasanid Syndrome' thesis, already presented at the 1999 ICOC. There was also praise for the Show and Tell by Alfio Nicolosi, Alberto Boralevi and Bertram Frauenknecht, who expounded bold theories that would move the origin of certain 16th-17th century carpets, so far attributed to eastern Anatolia, to the western margins of the Taklamakan.
In the breaks people availed themselves of sundry convivial pleasures, fed by the small vegetarian restaurant set up in the castle, by characteristic local offerings and by an enjoyable preview at Nader's new, elegant and welcoming shop in Milan's Via Santa Marta.
Among the enthusiasm there were many requests for a repeat performance. If there was anything to regret, one would be the rain, the other – as always – absent friends.
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