HALI NEWSLETTER No. 427

[View this email in your browser]( Bruun Rasmussen in Copenhagen, Denmark will hold an auction of 'Antique Carpets and Rugs' on 19 September 2023 at 2pm CEST, and of 'Modern Carpets and Rugs' on 21 September at 4pm. The auctions will offer a mix of antique classical rugs and rugs from the 20th century, all of which can be previewed in Copenhagen from 14–17 September. Highlights among the classical pieces include two fine Bakhshaish carpets, a pair of Kerman pictorial rugs, a Central Asian Khotan rug, a Seirafian rug and a few Caucasian rugs. The Modern Carpet and Rugs auction offers a wide range of pieces by some of the best Scandinavian textile designers of the 20th century, including several magnificent pieces by the Swedish designer Märta Måås-Fjetterström– Rödingen, Munka Ljungby, Tånga, Mellanblå and Blåringen. The sale also offers beautiful rugs by Nanna Ditzel, Rakel Carlander, Age Faith-Elland and many more. For further information, please contact Henrik Schleppegrel, rug and carpet specialist: T: +45 88181145 E: hsc@bruun-rasmussen.dk [View the antique carpets and rugs.]( [View the modern carpets and rugs.]( [News] 'Andy Warhol: The Textiles' is showing at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London until 10 September 2023. Warhol's career began with commercial art in the 1950s but his textile designs, which he sold anonymously, granted him creative liberty. These did not reach the mainstream and consequently many of the pieces in this exhibition have never been on display before. Showing over sixty fabrics and garments, the exhibition unveils a relatively unknown side of the famous artist, demonstrating his talent for textile design and pattern making. Shown above is Textile of Candy Apples, a silk by Stehli Silks © 2022 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London. [Find out more.]( Schuler Auktionen in Zürich, Switzerland is holding a major auction of oriental rugs and carpets, including important and rare Persian and Caucasian pieces, as well as tribal rugs. Shown above is a Daghestan kilim ([Lot 874](. Auction previews will take place from 9–15 September 2023 and the auction itself will take place on 20 September at 2pm CEST, 1pm BST. [View the online catalogue.]( [News] 'African by Design: Form, Pattern and Meaning in African Craft' is showing at the Mingei International Museum in San Diego, Califonia until 17 September 2023. Displaying over 100 works of traditional and contemporary African craft, including cloths, basketry and pottery, this show delves into the stories that these objects hold, and what they reveal about Africa's rich history. The exhibition 'celebrates the brilliance of African craft and design from the past and the present,' says Mingei Director of Exhibitions and Chief Curator, Emily G. Hanna. 'Each work invites us not just to consider the object, but also the makers whose inspiration and sense of design made an everyday object extraordinary.' Shown above is a silk kente cloth, Ghana, Asante Culture, 20th century, 2015−35−019. Gift of Barb Rich, Mingei International Museum. [Find out more.]( Dreweatts auction house is honoured to have been entrusted to sell the personal collection of Robert Kime, the man known the world over as a titan of design, a polymath and the ‘great assembler’ of beautiful things. Robert Kime’s unique eye and aesthetic sensibility led him to become one of the leading design figures of his generation. The culmination of his lifetime of collecting will form a three-day auction at Dreweatts, titled 'Robert Kime: The Personal Collection', taking place on 4, 5 and 6 October 2023. Robert’s love affair with pattern and textiles led him to gather great knowledge about Turkish, Central Asian and Near Eastern carpets, fabrics and textiles– a knowledge he would use to great effect, in the rooms of his homes and projects. His mantra about rugs is well known, he felt they provided the genesis to a room. The sale comprises numerous important and extremely rare examples which he discovered throughout his lifetime and had qualities, both academic and decorative, which compelled him to keep for his own living environment. Amongst them are two important 16th–century Ushak rugs which Robert displayed as artworks on the wall at his Warwick Square apartment, one of ‘Lotto’ design (estimate £30,000–50,000) and one of ‘small pattern Holbein’ design (estimate £40,000–60,000). The latter is a particularly rare and unpublished example, deriving its name from the painter Hans Holbein the Younger. Perhaps most famously, an example of a rug of this type appears in a painting, artist unknown, that documents the Somerset Conference of 1604, a peace treaty to negotiate the end of the Anglo-Spanish war. One of Robert’s particular favourites was an Ushak 'medallion' carpet which unusually has an inverse colour arrangement to others from the same group, making it particularly rare (estimate £30,000–50,000). [View, register and bid online.]( [News] Welcome back to [#RugFactFriday]( where this week we begin our exploration of Holbein carpets. Originating in Anatolia, a region in modern-day Turkey, during the 15th and 16th centuries, Holbein carpets have always been highly prized for their beauty and rarity. These rugs are renowned for their unique design characteristics and their association with the celebrated German artist Hans Holbein the Younger, who featured them in some of his iconic portraits, most notably, The Ambassadors, now in The National Gallery, London. Other carpets displaying patterns named after painters who frequently depicted examples in their work—such as 'Lotto' and 'Bellini' carpets—will be explored in future chapters of Rug Fact Friday. One of the most striking features of both small- and large-pattern Holbein rugs is their geometric precision. They are characterised by an intricate grid-like pattern composed primarily of squares and rectangles. The güls, or central medallions, are often octagonal and circular, and create a sense of balance and symmetry that emanates throughout the entire design. While small-pattern types consist of a multitude of more intricate shapes arranged into alternating rows (as seen above), the large-pattern types feature large squares with octagons and narrow striped borders, or large-pattern fields with smaller central squares containing güls. In an article from [HALI 210]( Philip K. Hu of the Saint Louis Art Museum explains that 'the name ‘Holbein’ has been applied to a style of carpet following the basic plan of two different shapes arranged in alternating rows. The dominant shape is that of an octagon filled with star pattern alternating with an offset row of lozenges or rosettes.' He goes on to state that 'it is believed that only about fifty examples of ‘Holbein’ rugs exist today.' Next week, we will use the HALI archive to dig deeper into the scholarship surrounding these beautiful carpets. Shown above is a detail from a Holbein carpet, Anatolia (Turkey), 15th–16th century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [Follow Us] [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Been forwarded this email and want to receive it regularly? Subscribe to this newsletter]( Copyright © 2023, Hali Publications Ltd., All rights reserved. [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences](