IMAGE DETAILS

Talish long rug, southeast Caucasus, early 19th century. 1.02 x 2.37m (3'4" x 7'9"). Alberto Levi Gallery, Milan

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05 June 2006

Textile & Tribal Art – The HALI Fair 2006 at London Olympia (8-18 June) is the ninth edition of the world's premier antique textile and carpet fair. Its continuing success can be ascribed, in part, to the quality and range of the material it offers. To this end, our preview focuses on a handful of items of particular interest and merit.

Each of the three distinct sections of The HALI Fair will welcome new exhibitors this year: in the carpet and textile section newcomers include Joshua Lumley from Egerton in Kent, The Kimono Collector from Verona in Wisconsin, and Asiaoccidentale from Florence, while the Mannheim-based firm Franz Bausback makes a welcome return to the fair; Tribale Globale from Genoa in Italy will present its collection of African masks alongside fellow tribal art exhibitors; and the leading edge modern carpet company Christopher Farr will be joined in the expanded and redesigned Design Zone by Magic Lao Carpets from Laos and London-based Nepalese producers Tashi Murik.

There are a number of elements from last year's fair that have been expanded and improved, most significant of which is the Robert Pinner lecture series which, in its first outing in 2005 was well received and attended. The lectures now occupy four days (10-11, 13-14 June) and are collected under the themes 'Classical Carpets, Textiles and Islamic Art', 'Textile and Tribal Art', 'China and Central Asia' and 'Meet the Authors'. The China lectures are scheduled to coincide with another Olympia innovation, a programme of 'China Day' activities on 13 June which not only recognises the growing importance of China as a market for antiques, but is also part of the China Year events being held all over London.

Changes to the overall design of the fair have allowed for an improved link with The Summer Fair, Olympia creating maximum mutual visibilty for both events.

1. Kifwebe mask, Democratic Republic of the Congo, early 20th century. Such masks are powerful social instruments embodying supernatural forces, and are associated with healing and warding off disaster. Tribale Globale, Genoa

2. Talish long rug, southeast Caucasus, early 19th century. 1.02 x 2.37m (3'4" x 7'9"). This beautiful Talish area rug combines a unique field design with the precise weaving and luminescent colours that have made rugs from this area perennial favourites among collectors. Although the totemic tree designs ascending the field resemble forms seen in some early Caucasian rugs, they do not appear in exactly this manner in any known rugs. The rug's particular colouration and minor borders help confirm that it was woven in the pre-commercial era in the Caucasus. Its was previously published by Eberhart Herrmann in Seltene Orientteppiche VIII (pl.36) and exhibited at his Munich gallery in 1986. Alberto Levi Gallery, Milan

3. Previous page: Baining tapa cloth, Papua New Guinea, 19th century. 0.85 x 2.00m (2'10" x 6'7"). This rare and dramatic cloth is made from the bark of the breadfruit tree by the Baining people of Papua New Guinea, where tapa were made for use in ceremonies and then subsequently burnt, hence their great rarity. The Baining are particularly known for their tapa masks, used during fertility ceremonies, some of which were more than 30 feet high. This section was part of a large piece from a monumental mask. Clive Loveless, London

4. Shirvan pictorial rug, northeast Caucasus, last quarter 19th century. 1.63 x 1.99m (6'6" x 5'4"). This unusual rug depicts one of the heroic combats of the Persian canon in detailed realism with inscriptions in both Farsi and Cyrillic. Of particular interest is the way the legs and tails of the horses cross from the field into the border design. David Sorgato, Milan

5. Spice 1 in nettle/rubia. Natural dyes have been used to create the subtle tonalities. Jan Kath, Bochum

6. Gobelins (?) tapestry panel, France, mid-19th century. 0.95 x 1.50m (3'1" x 4'11"). The man in Arab dress in this portrait bears a striking resemblance to Charles Negre, the French photographer. According to Maurice Fenaille, Etat Général des Tapisseries de La Manufacture des Gobelins. Vol. 2 (Paris 1907, p.337), "Portraits have a very specific position. They do not appear on the official registers of the Manufacture because they were woven distinctively from the usual tapestries. Most of them were executed in the atelier of Cozette. Often depicting portraits of members of the Royal family of natures mortes from the most celebrated painters, they were sometimes offered as a gift to prospective buyers of sovereign rulers." Junnaa & Thomi Wroblewski, London

7. Chelaberd rug, southwest Caucasus, ca. 1850-1875. 1.05 x 1.42 (3'5" x 4'8"). Provenanced to the Bennet family at Rosendals Castle in Sweden. Single medallion Chelaberds are amongst the rarest of 19th century Caucasian rugs. Later pieces are longer, have two or more medallions, and do not have the great material quality, in terms of wool and colour, of the mid-19th century examples. The devices flanking the medallion are more clearly articulated here than in some other single medallion examples, suggesting that this may be earlier than mid-19th century. Peter Willborg, Stockholm, Sweden

8. Ottoman brocaded silk lampas hanging (makata), Turkey, early 19th century. This piece was purchased at Christie's South Kensington, but at a previous HALI Fair the late textile designer Guy Evans revealed its history. He remembered having seen it when as a boy he visited Monchelsea Place, a beautiful stone Elizabethan manor house in Kent, with his father Boughton. The house was then owned by Michael Bluett Winch, a diplomat and journalist who had spent time in Eastern Europe who also collected antiques. At the end of the Second World War, Bluett Winch, who was on secondment to the Russian Army, came across a group of Russian soldiers in the grounds of a grand country house somewhere in Poland bivouacked under seven silk hangings which they were happy to exchange for a packet of cigarettes. They were brought back to England and after the war, Bluett Winch repatriated them. In gratitude, the Polish government gave him one of the panels. Makata were popular with the aristocracy of Poland from the late 17th century onwards, and were made in Turkey and imported in great numbers (see HALI 121, pp.108-110). This hanging has a pale blue satin weave ground with brocaded patterning in silk and silver thread. The design incorporates a mihrab with a mosque lamp and a star ('Seal of Solomon') hangs centrally from the arch. Below it the field is decorated with a vase of flowers and floral motifs. Joss Graham, London

9. Bingata style kimono, Okinawa, Japan, late 19th century. Bingata is a style of stencil dyeing which uses multi-cut stencils in parallel registers with multiple dyes over a red or yellow background, creating vibrant designs that are somewhat blurred at the edges. This time-consuming process was developed on the isolated southern Japanese island of Okinawa and was reserved for royal use (silk pongee was their preferred fabric). Common brides were only permitted to wear a bingata-dyed headcloth on their wedding day, but after the Meiji restoration of 1868, commoners were able to wear garments in this style. Bingata-dyed fabric was traditionally made of bast fibres, and typical motifs refect the tropical nature of Okinawa. The Kimono Collector, Verona, Wisconsin

10. Iroquois beaded skirt, Northern United States, 20th century (before 1930). Animal hide and glass beads, length 1.20m (3'11"). Such skirts were worn during ceremonies by Iroquois girls of the exclusively female secret 'Marmo' society. Tribal Gathering, London

11. Ningxia carpet (detail), China, early 19th century. Recently found in Tibet, this carpet's fluid field shows peonies intertwined with undulating lines, in alternating tones and colours, which seem to fade in and out of the overall pattern. Thomas Mond, Eliot, Maine