Museum Studies Commons^™

Mathematical Aspects Of Oriental Carpets, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

When one looks at an Oriental carpet in the context of Western art, one usually perceives a richness of colors and patterns, and perhaps the contrast between central field and surrounding borders. A careful observer might notice the appearance of superimposed plane patterns in the central field and multiple linear patterns in the surrounding borders. Each of patterns, whether in the field or the borders, is composed of various design elements, which in combination are repeated according to the principles of symmetry, often with the addition of symmetry-breaking (Bier 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000a). The mathematical principles of pattern making according …

Islamic Art At Doris Duke's Shangri La: Playing With Form And Pattern, Carol Bier, David K. Masunaga

Textile Research Works

Shangri La is the historic home of Doris Duke in Honolulu. It is filled with installations of Islamic tilework and other arts. Open to the public in late 2002, by reservation for tours arranged through the Honolulu Academy of Arts, today this home serves as a museum in which a walking tour can provide extraordinary visual opportunities for the study of geometry and pattern both in the arts that are installed and exhibited, and in the surrounding plantings and landscape. The house offers a plethora of educational opportunities, for which its full potential has not yet been tapped. A new …

Spanish And Mamluk Carpets: Comparisons Of Decoration And Structure, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Two recent exhibitions, Carpets of Andalusia and Mamluk Rugs from Egypt, at The Textile Museum afforded a rare opportunity to compare two radically different rug-weaving traditions from the perspectives of design and weave structure. While not often evident to the casual viewer, there is a significant relationship between design, pattern, and weave structure in all Oriental carpets. The opportunity to explore such differences warrants careful examination and critical viewing.

The Mamluk rugs all probably date from the last quarter of the 15th century. They comprise a cohesive group defined by color, a geometric style, and similarity of weave characteristics. The …

"Indigo" From Encyclopædia Iranica, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

INDIGO (Pers. nil), the common name of a broad genus, Indigofera, with numerous species, widely distributed throughout Asia, Africa, and the Americas. A member of the leguminous pea family, indigo is variously classified as an herb or small shrub; its stalks are long, bearing raceme flowers. It is usually perennial, but in some areas annual. Native species are known from Arabia, including the Yemen, and around the Indian Ocean. In some sources Persia is not listed among those regions in which indigo occurs in a natural form (e.g., the website mentioned below). Hans Wulff (p. 192) mentions two local species …

Mamluk Rugs From Egypt: Jewels Of The Textile Museum's Collection (Exhibition), Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Mamluk rugs are considered by many to be among the most beautiful of any rugs ever created. The brilliant reds, greens, and blues (figs. 1 and 2) are reminiscent of rubies, emeralds and sapphires; whether this was an intentional evocation is not known. But The Textile Museum's holdings of Mamluk rugs, unparalleled in the world, are truly the "jewels" of the collection. Simply by virtue of the fact that they date from the late 15th century, Mamluk rugs comprise one of the most significant groups of classical carpets. Their lustrous wool and wondrous color, as well as their geometric designs …

Carpets Of Andalusia (Exhibition), Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

The fall of Granada in 1492 reestablished Christian dominion in Spain after centuries of Islamic rule. The rapid expansion of Islam from Arabia in the 7th century encompassed the rich cultural legacy of the Late Antique world, forging a unified empire throughout the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean lands and across North Africa to Spain within a short span of several decades. Arab and Berber armies had crossed into Spain in 711, generating at once an effort that lasted for many generations to restore Christian rule. In Islamic times, the Iberian peninsula was called al-Andalus, or Andalusia. Although we have …

Geometric Patterns And The Interpretation Of Meaning: Two Monuments In Iran, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

The Alhambra has often served in the West as the paradigm for understanding geometric pattern in Islamic art. Constructed in Spain in the 13th century as a highly defended palace, it is a relatively late manifestation of an Islamic fascination with geometric pattern. Numerous earlier Islamic buildings, from Spain to India, exhibit extensive geometric patterning, which substantiate a mathematical interest in the spatial dimension and its manifold potential for meaning. This paper examines two monuments on the Iranian plateau, dating from the 11 th century of our era, in which more than one hundred exterior surface areas have received patterns …

Introduction To Doris Duke's Shangri La By Sharon Littlefield, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

SHANGRI LA, the most intimate of Doris Duke's residences, is the one that today offers the best view into the private domain of a public celebrity. What it reveals about Doris Duke presents a strong contrast to her well-publicized persona as a tobacco heiress, born to wealth, who liked to frolic. Observe the house, spilling down terraces of Ka'alawai toward the sea; contemplate its well-considered vistas and its polished black lava, white marble, and coral limestone surfaces. Admire the architectural features shipped from abroad and installed on site; experience the gardens with their towering trees, sparkling water chutes, and placid …

Review Of Stillman, Arab Dress: A Short History, From The Dawn Of Islam To Modem Times., Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Arab Dress: A Short History, From the Dawn of Islam to Modem Times. By YADIDA KALFON STILLMAN. Edited by NORMAN A. STILLMAN. Themes in Islamic Studies, vol. 2. Leiden: BRILL, 2000. Pp. xxxii + 240, plates, figs.

Billowing folds, exquisite pleats, tightly wound turbans, flowing burqas, short square kerchiefs-the dramatic drapery of Islamic fashion fills the quiet spaces of our daily news coverage; yet the garments illustrated and their significance often pass without verbal notice. Little would Yedida Stillman ever have anticipated the widespread presence of the Islamic vestimentary system in Western media a short three years after her death …

Symmetry-Breaking In Oriental Carpets: The Case For Beauty, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

emerges from truth. Symmetry-breaking requires an expectation of symmetry. Often, symmetry-breaking is confused with asymmetry. But, rather, asymmetry is simply the absence of symmetry. For symmetry-breaking to exist, a pattern must first be stablished. Symmetry then is expected, but somehow that expectation is not met. There are many ways to effect symmetry-breaking in Oriental carpets. The study of Oriental carpets may lead one to suppose that in art, as in nature, it is in the approximation of symmetry, rather than in its precision, that beauty is to be found and appreciated. What is an Oriental Carpet? No one ever set …

A Calligrapher's Art: Inscribed Cotton Ikat From Yemen, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Yemen at the advent of Islam and in the ensuing centuries is a little known entity in our contemporary world. A thousand years ago when Baghdad was capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasid caliphs, Yemen was a flourishing center of agriculture and trade. By camel caravan north to central Islamic lands and in maritime trade with India to the east and Africa across the straits, Yemen's ports of call along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden were emporia for textiles, dyestuffs, and incense.

While today Yemen predominantly imports textiles from abroad, in the early centuries after the …

Review Of Islamische Textilkunst Des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Problemne, Edited By Karel Otavsky., Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Problemne. Edited by KAREL OTAVSKY. Riggisberger Berichte 5. Riggisberg, Switzerland: Abegg-Stiftung, 1997. Pp. 219 + 214 figs.

Focusing on textiles of Egypt and North Africa in the Fatimid period (A.D. 909-1171), this volume presents the edited proceedings of a scholarly conference on medieval Islamic textiles held at the Abegg-Stiftung in Riggisberg, Switzerland, 10-11 November 1995. Eighteen papers (published in English, French, or German) by fourteen authors are organized in three sections that deal with the functions, inscriptions, and weaving techniques, followed by a bibliography of references cited, a list of illustrations, and the authors' …

"Gabba" In Encyclopædia Iranica, Jean-Pierre Digard, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

GABBA (gava in Kurdish and Lori, Īzadpanāh, s.v.; ḵersak in Baḵtīārī, Digard, pp. 128-31), a hand-woven pile rug of coarse quality and medium size (90 x 150 cm or larger) characterized by an abstract design that relies upon open fields of color and a playfulness with geometry. This kind of rug is common among the tribes of the Zagros (Kurdish, Lori-speaking ethnic groups, Qašqāʾīs). The first known reference to gabba is found in a farmān by Shah Ṭahmāsp (r. 930-84/1524-76) dating to the middle of the 16th century (Opie, 1992, p. 124). Gabbas were said to have originated in …

Choices And Constraints: Pattern Formation In Oriental Carpets, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Patterns in nature result from dynamic relationships of forces and constraints. What is analogous for patterns in art? Art is created by human hands motivated by inspiration and thought. It is the product of creativity and skill. Creativity is constrained by cognitive processes and skill by the limits of technology. Based upon the author’s studies of Oriental carpets, this paper suggests that patterns in art result from dynamic relationships of choices and constraints. Typically, traditional Oriental carpets from historical rug-weaving regions of the world exhibit a multiplicity of patterns—field patterns and border patterns that express a vast array of designs …

Circles And Centers: A Review Article, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Review of: Geometric Patterns from Islamic Art & Architecture, by Robert Field. Tarquin Publications, Norfolk, UK, c1998. AND "The Nature of Islamic Ornament, Part III: Geometric Patterns," exhibition on view March 17-July 18, 1999 in the Hagop Kevorkian Fund Special Exhibitions Gallery at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Circles of equal radius, when tight-packed, naturally combine in two ways. One method yields centers that form a triangular grid; the other method yields centers that form a square grid. These basic mathematical considerations underlie the play of pattern in Islamic art. By selecting centers in a triangular grid, one may establish …

Review Of Textiles Of Late Antiquity, By Annemarie Stauffer Et Al., Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

This publication presents twenty-nine superb photographs of a selection of outstanding Late Antique textiles from among more than fifteen hundred classified as Coptic in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accompanying an exhibition of sixty-one textiles (on view 4 December 1995-7 April 1996), this booklet celebrates the "new, accessible storage and ex- tensive visual and documentary archives" (p. 4) of the Antonio Ratti Textile Center at the Metro politan Museum of Art. ...

The study of textiles can tell us so much more about the societies from which they came, about the cultures that produced them--information concerning environmental …

Review Of The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry And Ornament In Islamic Architecture, By Gulru Necipoglu, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Reviewed work: The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture, Gulru Necipoglu. Santa Monica, CA: J. Paul Getty Publications, 1996.

Reproducing the patterns from a 15th-century scroll (Topkapi Palace Museum Library, MS H.1956) that served as a guide for architects and artisans, Necipoglu brilliantly explores the juncture of geometry and philosophy that informed art and architecture over the centuries. Lucid essays accompany illustrations the scroll's 114 sequential patterns and place this virtually unknown work the dynamic intellectual discourses on geometry, religion and building that taking place in Europe and parts of the Islamic world during the 15th century. …

The Legacy Of Timur: A Small Rug At The Textile Museum, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Among the two hundred lots offered oh the block by Christie's from Bernheimer Family Collection of Rugs in February 1996, a small shaped rug with white ground was acquired by the Textile Museum. The rug was Lot 192, published in the catalogue as an East Persian saddle rug dating to the 19th century. The Textile Museum's interest in the piece was sparked by my hunch, based upon its design, that this rug is far more significant than its published attribution might suggest. A carefully conceived trefoil scroll implies a Timurid heritage. To read the design correctly, it should probably have …

Legacy Of Collector George Hewitt Myers, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

A CULTURAL JEWEL in the nation's capital, The Textile Museum is a testament to the vision and unerring eye of its founder, George Hewitt Myers. Established in 1925, this small museum has assumed a revered place in the international museum community not only for the quality of its collections and library, but also for its leadership. in the study, preservation and interpretation of the textile arts. Over the years it has been the flagship institution for the conservation and display of textiles around the world based upon the foresight of Myers. Today, The Textile Museum's exhibitions and educational initiatives distinguish …

Other Pile-Weavings From Safavid Iran - The Persian Velvets At Rosenborg, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Among Persian pile-weavings, the most famous are carpets produced in Safavid Iran connected with the Persian monarchy or with European royalty. These include the Habsburg hunting Carpet today in the Osterreichisches Museum for Anfewandte Kunst, Vienna, the Swedish royal carpet, and perhaps the Boston Hunting Carpet . A hunting carpet which may also be categorized as a "medallion carpet" is that in Milan at the Poldi Pezzoli; another celebrated medallion carpet is the Ardabil carpet in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London , with a companion in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. More numerous are the star medallion …

Approaches To Understanding Oriental Carpets, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

ORIENTAL CARPETS reached a peak in production in the late nineteenth century, when a boom in market demand in Europe and America encouraged increased *24 production in Turkey, Iran and the Caucasus.* Areas east of the Mediterranean Sea at that time were referred to as. the Orient (in contrast to the Occident, which referred to Europe). To study the origins of these carpets and their ancestral heritage is to embark on a journey to Central Asia and the Middle East, to regions of low rainfall and many sheep, to inhospitable lands where animal husbandry and the seeking of good pastures …

Symmetry & Pattern: The Art Of Oriental Carpets, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

The beauty of oriental carpets is achieved by various means including choice of colors and designs, as well as by the manipulation of designs to form pleasing patterns. Patterns in Oriental carpets are never quite what you expect — a surprise here, a flourish there, a change of color, the flip or rotation of a design where you might not predict it. The more you look, the more variations you will find.

The study of symmetry offers an approach to analyzing patterns in Oriental carpets. Through symmetry analysis we may identify areas of pattern that exhibit expected repetitions, and areas …

Ornament And Islamic Art, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Review of: The Mediation of Ornament, by OLEG GRABAR & Problems of Style: Foundations for a History of Ornament, by ALOIS RIEGL.

TWO MAJOR WORKS addressing the nature of art, published in the same year but written a century apart, are each based, in part, upon analyses of Islamic monuments. Both derive from series of lectures on the history of ornament, and each offers a perspective explicitly countering the author's own intellectual milieu in the study of art focused on Western tradition.

Problems of Style is an impressive translation of Stilfragen, a broadly-based and wide-ranging inquiry by Alois …

Rugs And Textiles Of Late Imperial China, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

With successive conquests of the highlands beyond the Great Wall, the Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911) formed what was to become China's last empire. Their political expansion encompassed Han Chinese, Mongolians, Turks, Tibetans, and other peoples with diverse ethnic origins, languages and religious beliefs, whose regional economies often relied upon physical features of the land.

Within the Great Wall, to the east and south, silk and sericulture had a long history. Silkworms and mulberry trees thrived in the low-lying agricultural regions populated by Han Chinese. From inland regions rivers flowed to the sea, where coastal cities …

Tappeti Safavidi: L'Evoluzione Storica E Culturale Dell'arte Tessile Iraniana Dal Xvi Al Xviii Secolo, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

In Iran l'epoca safavide coincide con il periodo aureo dell'arte tessile: proprio nel XVI secolo infatti si completò l'evoluzione stilistica del tappeto persiano classico e la tessitura di sete e velluti giunse ai massimi livelli per tecnica e per decorazioni.

Nelle fasi successive della storia persiana nei tessuti e nei tappeti continuarono a vivere le straordinarie innovazioni dell'epoca safavide, tuttora insuperate.Nella storia l'Iran è stato uno dei più importanti paesi produttori di tessili.

In epoca medievale le sontuose sete ed i tappeti erano ricercati dalle case regnanti e dalla nobiltà europea per la qualità eccellente e per la bellezza fuori …

Falcons And Flowers: Safavid Persian Textile Arts, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

The Safavid period in Iran was a golden age for textile arts. It was in the 16th century that the Classical Persian carpet evolved to its fully developed form, and it was then that woven silks and velvets reached the highest technical and aesthetic standards of all time. In subsequent periods of Persian history, textiles and carpets reflect the extraordinary achievements of the Safavid era which have never been surpassed.

Under the reign of Shah Abbas I, who reigned from 1588 to 1629, Iran established important economic ties not only with the rapidly emerging European powers, but with the Mughal …

What Is An Oriental Carpet?, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Have you ever just stared at an Oriental carpet? Have you ever wondered what makes it so attractive, fascinating, or puzzling? Have you admired its simplicity or its intricacy? Have you ever wondered where it came from? Or, how it was made?

What is an Oriental Carpet? attempts to answer some of these questions. Conceived in response to visitors' requests for more basic information about textiles, this educational approach encourages the viewer to participate in an exploration of Oriental carpets.

Although the terms carpet and rug are often interchanged, here a carpet is defined as a fairly large pile-weaving intended …

Piety And Power In Early Sasanian Art, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Sasanian art has long been considered a royal art: An art in service of royalty. Indeed, traditions of kingship in Iran became a paradigm for kingship throughout the world (though not always recognized as such). But the significance and strength of Iranian kingship no doubt led, in part, to scholarly paradigms in which nearly all in historical Iran has been cast in the shadow of kingship. But there are other ways to look at kingship in Iran. This paper explores the representation of royal images in early Sasanian art from a religious perspective, a view perhaps eclipsed by the ever-present …

Knots And Bolts: Design And Technology In The Caucasus, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

In the largest sense, Oriental rugs represent both the social history and manufacturing traditions of their particular cultures and are related to the human needs, economies, and ecological constraints of those societies. Each textile or fragment represents a complex set of human interactions between user and viewer, implying a social response, and between user and maker, sometimes resulting from economic transactions among buyer and seller, lender, merchant, and trader. Suppliers of raw materials and market superintendents or commissioners for fair trade and quality control may also have been involved. The quality and appearance of any given textile results from the …

Bukhara: Traditional Weavings From Pre-Soviet Central Asia, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

In southern regions of what was the Soviet Union lie five independent republics, the populations of which are predominantly Turkic: Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. During the course of the past fifty years, each of these areas has seen increasing industrialization as part of the centralized planning of the Soviet economy. Today, throughout the region. privatization of industry is rapidly occuring. Accompanying these new developments, and as part of the political and economic changes of the last few years, there has been an increasing awareness of ethnic identity and cultural inheritance. This may be expressed through literary and intellectual …