Indigenous Studies Commons^™

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 …

A Kurdish Reed Screen, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

A unique ethnographic monument recently donated to The Textile Museum merits special attention not only for its size (twenty-five feet long and four feet high), but for its important place in the history, use, construction, and decoration of functional textiles.

Designed to enclose space in a nomadic environment. the reed screen may be considered an architectural textile destined for use within the community in which it was made. This distinguishes it from commercial products manufactured for the market, and, indeed, from most other utilitarian textiles, although it shares with carpets and kilims an obvious intent to beautify the environment for …

Elements Of Plane Symmetry In Oriental Carpets, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Historically, in the Islamic world from Spain to Indonesia, two-dimensional repeat patterns have served as primary means for organizing color and space. The ornamentation of architecture may involve the modifications of a two-dimensional pattern in its application to a three-dimensional surface. All of the uses of pattern, appearing as well on ceramics and metalwork, in book illumination, and textiles, rely upon the repetition of complex or simple designs to form overall repeat patterns of apparent complexity and intricacy. Yet within all the visual diversity and within the variability of regional traditions throughout the Islamic world, there is a common visual …

Robert Layton's Review Of Peter Sutton's Dreamings: The Art Of Aboriginal Australia, Robert Layton

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Pyramids: Geometry And Design In The Carpets Of Egypt, 1450-1750, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Mamluk carpets present a paradox. For although they are among the most tantalizingly beautiful of all Oriental carpets, they are also the least understood. The answers to such questions as who made them, why they were made and for whom, and how they were used, are virtually unknown. These carpets, produced during the rule of the Mamluk sultans in Egypt in the late 15th century are arguably the finest ever produced anywhere. Mamluk carpets are distinguished from all other carpet-weaving traditions. In part, this distinction derives from the dominance and simplicity of geometric form (#R34.32.1): squares and rectangles, octagons and …

Carpet Condition: A Curator's Perception Of "The Hole", Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Twenty years ago when I set out on the course of a professional life in archaeology, I thought my future lay in ruins. Preparing this paper has given me an opportunity to review my experiences and reassess my perception of condition in general. And, specifically with respect to carpets, it has enabled me to develop a heightened sense of self-awareness and perception of "the hole." I have found upon introspective analysis two key aspects of my own training and experience that have profoundly affected my response as curator to the condition of carpets: The first is a background, prior to …

Visions Of Infinity: Design And Pattern In Oriental Carpets, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

A fascination with color and geometric pattern is expressed in Islamic art. In many areas of the Islamic world, historically from Spain to Indonesia, twodimensional repeat patterns provide the primary means for organizing color and space. Ornamentation of architecture, ceramics, metalwork, book illumination, textiles, and Oriental carpets relies upon the repetition of complex or simple designs, creating overall surface patterns of apparent complexity and intricacy. Patterns may consist of geometric, floral, calligraphic, or figural forms. The majority of patterns in Oriental carpets consist of geometric and stylized floral designs, arranged in a system of repeats within an oblong central field …

Carpets And History, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

The story of Western trade with Persia in textiles and carpets casts a fascinating light on the exciting, sometimes turbulent history of the centuries following Europe's Age of Exploration. The intense commercial and political rivalries of European mercantile expansion during the 400-year period from about 1500 to 1900 is revealed both by official historical documents - treaties, royal decrees and contracts - and by more personal ones, such as the reports of traveling merchants. Through the details of production and trade that these documents contain, we can view textiles and carpets as key commodities in the international marketplace. They played …

An Introduction To Oriental Carpets: The Arthur D. Jenkins Collection, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Oriental carpets have long fascinated the American public. Rich colors and attractive designs, as well as lush pile and renowned durability have given them a well-deserved reputation as beautiful and useful floor-coverings. Handmade products of far distant lands, their complicated patterns also evoke the romance of luxury and the Orient in days of yore. Yet Oriental carpets also represent both social history and manufacturing traditions related to the human needs, economy, and ecological constraints of their cultural origins.

Arthur D. Jenkins, an American collector of Oriental carpets, was intrigued by the social origins of rugs. Early in his collecting career, …

Dragons, Blossoms, Sunbursts: Textile Arts Of The Caucasus, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Rugs from the Caucasus have long been appreciated in Europe and America. Widely known for their bright colors and bold designs, Caucasian rugs have attracted collectors for nearly a century. These rugs, produced in towns and villages, reflect regional design traditions which were amalgamated from diverse sources.

Although embroideries and flatweaves (rugs without pile) from the Caucasus are less well known in the West, their designs are no less bold nor their colors less striking. Produced as a domestic art, they were destined for home use and local commerce. The richness of patterns in these textile arts is in part …

"Introduction" To Content And Context Of Visual Arts In The Islamic World: Papers From A Colloquium In Memory Of Richard Ettinghausen, Carol Bier, Priscilla P. Soucek

Textile Research Works

The edited papers presented in this memorial volume offer tribute to Richard Ettinghausen, scholar, teacher, curator and friend, a great man who affected within his own lifetime the study of Islamic art throughout the Western world. Through the high caliber of his scholarship and his discerning connoisseurship, he had a profound effect on the intellectual development of those whom he touched through his manifold activities, whether in publications, formal lectures, or an informal sharing of his knowledge. In recognition of his many achievements he received in 1976 "Pour le Merite," the highest civil decoration awarded by the Federal Republic of …

Karen P. Sinclair's Review Of Sidney Mead's Te Maori: Maori Art From New Zealand Collections, Karen P. Sinclair

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Woven From The Soul, Spun From The Heart, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Textiles are luxuries and necessities. They are artifacts as well as primary sources which contain a wealth of information about the society that produced them Materials and color represent products available for textile production; structure gives evidence of levels of technological achievement. Patterns illustrate belief and values, frequently offering insight into daily life. The mingling of motifs expresses a kinship of ideas. Textiles, above all, illustrate a culture's freshness and vitality, its flexibility and adaptation to change.

Meaning and Metaphor: Cultural themes occur in both Persian poetry and the textile arts. Hunting, falconry, bird-and-flower studies were popular subjects for poetry, …

Ishmael Stagner's Review Of Donald Kilolani Mitchell's Resource Units In Hawaiian Culture, Ishmael Stagner

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

A Pale Reflection: American Indian Images In Mormon Arts, P. Jane Hafen

Theses and Dissertations

American Indians in Mormon arts suffer from the imposition of the white man's traditional ideas, images and stereotypes. An examination of Mormon literature since 1941, Mormon hymns and music, and Mormon visual arts reveals little consideration of Native American values: tribal affiliation, significance of place and community, myth and ritual. While the mainstream of American art has incorporated Native American values into Indian representations, and even found a place for Native American artists, Mormon arts adhere to historical misinterpretations, despite a number of fine Mormon Native American artists.

Tillamook Indian Basketry : Continuity And Change As Seen In The Adams Collection, Ailsa Elizabeth Crawford

Dissertations and Theses

In the Adams Collection at the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum, Tillamook, Oregon, there are 29 baskets that were probably made between 1880 and 1940. They are mostly of raffia, are somewhat faded from their original, bright, commercial colors, and are generally quite small. Despite the fact that these baskets are well-documented and were made by Tillamook women, they are the sort that have been overlooked by anthropologists and by collectors because of their non-"traditional" appearance. In order to determine what relationship these baskets have to Tillamook basketry made earlier, I analyzed them and 39 Tillamook baskets from four other museum …

The Work Of Al-Hasan B. Muhammad, Die Engraver At Isbahan And Al-Muhammadiyya, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Four Buyid coins in the collection of t he American Numismatic Society, struck between 358-68 H. /A.D. 968-79 at two mints in Jibal province, illustrate a phenomenon unique in the history of Islamic coinage. They concern the status of a die engraver named al-Hasan b. Muhammad. A silver dirham bearing his signature was first noted by George C. Miles and published in 1938. It was at that time the only Islamic coin known to bear the signature of a die engraver. More recently, four additional coins have been located which shed more light upon the career of this artisan. His …

The Bryas Palace Of Theophilus, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

According to the Continuation of the chronicles of Theophanes the Bryas palace of Theophilus (829-842) was built in imitation of an Arab palace. The present inquiry into its Islamic source offers a new interpretation of the Bryas palace within the context of Middle Byzantine secular architecture and the development of court ceremonial. ::?revious studies have concentrated upon locating Bryas in efforts to determine the extent of Islamic impact on the architecture of Byzantium. The most recent attempt, put forth by Dr. Semavi Eyice, tentatively links the unexcavated ruins at KUyUkyal!, a suburb of Istanbul, with the literary description of Bryas …

Excavations At Korucutepe, Turkey. Part Ii: The Fortification Wall, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Excavations at Korucutepe have brought to light a fortification wall of a type common in Anatolia during the second millennium B.c. The wall had been exposed in places by bulldozing operations for a government farm. Excavation revealed a plan consisting of a curtain wall with a double stone foundation (see fig. 7). Square towers project at intervals where the direction of the wall changes. Adjacent to two of the towers is a passageway, one on the south side of the mound, one on the northeast, leading out from the city. There is no indication of any cross walls, or casemates, …

A Graphic Interpretation Of Four Pueblo Indian Corn Dances, Robert L. Smith

Art & Art History ETDs

The purpose of this paper is to supplement what the author has already attempted to express in terms of paint. Therein he gives a personal interpretation of four Pueblo Indian Corn Dances; here he presents such factual data and explanation as he feels pertinent to his emotional appreciation of the dances. It is perhaps equally important to state not only what is the intent in this paper but also what is not intended. The writer does not attempt to give an exhaustive treatment of the subject-- geographical, ethnological, or archaeological. As any student of Indian culture knows it would be …

History Of The Indian Tribes Of North America, With Biographical Sketches And Anecdotes Of The Principal Chiefs. Embellished With One Hundred And Twenty Portraits, From The Indian Gallery In The Department Of War, At Washington. Volume Iii., Thomas L. M'Kenney, James Hall

Electronic Texts in American Studies

CONTENTS OF VOL. III.

History of the Indian Tribes of North America [44 pp]

An Essay on the History of the North American Indians by James Hall, Parts I-IV

The Genuineness of the Portrait of Pocahontas, by D. M. Randolph

Localities of all the Indian Tribes of North America in 1833

Statement showing the number of each tribe of Indians, whether natives of, or emigrants to, the country west of the Mississippi, with items of emigration and subsistence. 1842 & 1843.

Present Localities of the Indian Tribes west of the Mississippi.

Signatures (of subscribers)

Plates:

Encampment of Piekann Indians near …