1 comments about Dhurrie--Flatwoven Rugs of India.

1. A dhurrie is a flatwowen rug and has for too long been overshadowed by pile carpets.

   Almost a dying art and style it has been rejuvenated in part by the efforts of the author, Shyam Ahuja, a name familiar to those who deal in Indian materials. The book is a fascinating look at the art of the dhurrie. Ahuja starts at the beginning trying to unravel the origins. Cotton cultivation started in the Harrappan age around 3000 BCE. Spindles and other weaving atefacts have been unearthed from this period. Around 320 BCE the Arthashastra lists a range of floor coverings and the oldest dhurrie fragment comes down to us from around 100CE.

   Ahuja started his affair with dhurries in the sixies and has continued to stimualte growth of this dying art form. He takes all flat-woven rugs to be dhurries; it is not the material they are made in but the style and colour. "The dhurrie is all about colour- there has to be poetry. There is no set formula, only an unerring instinct- you have to feel the design in yout gut."

   Along with the history of dhurries it takes you the differnt stages of a dhurrie's creation, the colour, the weaving and brings the whole into a modern context with contemporary designs. My grandmothe rand aunt used to weave dhurries. It was fascinating to sit and watch their fingers on the loom as they wove their magic and crewated wonderful designs. It is gratifying to see justice finally being done to this art form by this wonderful book.

No comments about Hooked Rugs: History and the Continuing Tradition.

1 comments about Oriental Rugs Vol 3 The Carpets of Afghanistan.

1. I used this book extensively during my one year tour in Afghanistan and it saved me quite a bit of money. Dealers were impressed that I could talk about weaving techniques, colors and dyes, and identify a rug by the region and province of origin. That allowed me to negotiate more effectively. If you're in the market for Afghan rugs, I'd recommend reading this before you buy. It could save you some dollars also.

1 comments about Oriental Carpets: A Buyer's Guide.

1. This book could have had more information on the carpets, somehow I did not get the most from it.

2 comments about Tribal Rugs: Treasures of the Black Tent (Design S.).

1. Several things struck me about the documentation of this book and since one Doctor has all ready covered a nice section of the material, I will try and cover some items that were striking to me ... such as a history of three thousand years of grazing rights among what are now, the citizens of about seven different countries. Here in Idaho, we have grazing rights to BLM ground which is Federally owned and managed. These grazing rights and some of the wars between sheep men and cattle men are well documented all across the West. They go back a little over one hundred years.
   
   I also found it interesting that experts could tell that a rug came from one area and that it had designs in it that were not supposed to be there and wars and slavery was considered to be a possible answer.
   
   We have experienced this winter 2007-2008 the winter kill of several hundred shepherds and perhaps ten thousand sheep in Afghanistan. Farther NE we have perhaps seen the end of a complete type of cashmere goat and their herders due to excessive amounts of snow. Which brings up an important fact that all goats and sheep both fat tail and short come from the domestication of these wild herds at various times and various places to produce all the known species that we have now. They all walked the Il Ray ... the ancient Tribal Rugs and the grazing rights and the tribes that produced them down through the millenia.



2. To begin with, Tribal Rugs: Treasures Of The Black Tent is by design a comprehensive reference work. Dealers and collectors will be well-served by Brian W. MacDonald's exhaustive survey of the carpets of Central Asia. But as one spends time hypnotically absorbed in the patterns of the incredibly intricate weavings presented in these pages, and learns a bit about the tribal cultures of the people who created them, one sees that Tribal Rugs is also a profound portrait of a highly evolved art form. An art form that is not pursued in order to create art. But rather unselfconciously, in a utilitarian way. Because the weaving is always done for practical purposes, to meet the needs of the family as it travels from region to region throughout the year. Which makes the infinite patience and unstinting devotion to aesthetic ideal with which the work is accomplished that much more remarkable. My thought about these rugs, about their visual and emotional impact, is that each depicts a rarefied landscape of uncompromising beauty. A landscape that intrinsically possesses meaning and maybe even sacred qualities (many weavings are in fact uniquely configured as prayer rugs). To study carefully these landscapes reveals a world of otherness that endlessly fascinates, captivates, and ultimately challenges thoroughly perceptual complacency with salubrious result.

No comments about Tribal Rugs: An Introduction to the Weaving of the Tribes of Iran.

No comments about Oriental Rugs: An Introduction.

1 comments about Kilims: Decorating With Tribal Rugs.

1. The high quality of the photographic reproductions and the high book publication production values make this book. If you've ever begun to look at so-called Persian carpets, you've no doubt been bewildered by the huge variation in price and quality in these things: Hand woven, powerloomed, hand tufted, machine made, vegetable dyes, artificial dyes, cotton, silk, wool, gabbeh, kilim, rug, Indian, Pakistani, Kurdish, Iranian -not to mention the various tribal and trade names for these things. In other words there is just a head-spinning, mind numbing variety of "Persian" carpets available today and it is super easy to pay too much for inferior quality rugs without knowing a bit about them. Thus, this book is a great first step toward finding some excellent floor covering for your home (and, as evinced by this author, for your pillows, furniture, walls and windows). The book is done in roughly two parts. The first half of the book is a discussion of the history of the rug, with a description of how rugs are made and what goes into them. This discussion is accompanied by a large number of excellent color reproductions to inform the reader. The last part of the book is given over to decorating tips also with many photographic examples, and while this part held little interest for me because I'm not into such things, I suspect a few of the author's many great ideas will be employed by a large percentage of those who read this book. Don't expect a discussion of values, costs, etc. Also, do not expect a reference guide to symbology or a guide to specific tribal motifs, etc. Look for that kind of info instead in more formal studies or books about collectible carpets. Having said this, the author does thoughtfully include a list of carpet retailers at the back of her book, a couple of whom I recognized as well-respected carpet merchants with international reputations. Presently there is a fair number of this book available from Amazon sellers for less than the original publication price and as such I believe this presents an excellent value; kind of like paying for the author's output and getting the great pictures and high quality paper, binding and printing of the book for free. I highly recommend this book to the beginning rug buyer, or perhaps a decorator who wants a great coffee table book for an excellent price.

3 comments about The Big Book Of Hooked Rugs: 1950-1980s.

1. The beautiful photographs in this book are a great inspiration for the modern day rugger. To see the color selections and the patterns of the past, what could be more inspiring. I loved that the mats were grouped into themes.



2. the book is too thick to be published in paperback. The spine of my book has already broken. However, the pictures are excellent.



3. This book makes a great reference. It provides a wide variety of themes, color palates, and styles to incorporate into your new creations, beside being a great resource for collectors.

2 comments about The Story of Carpets.

1. I read this book twice and each time I was mesmerised by the fluency of the author on the subject of the Persian carpets in particular. This book is a very enlightening book in terms of information and vivid illustrations. It is full of fantstic pictures that must have cost the author a lot to produce the photographs.
   I found the book totally informative and would recomment it to any body who wants to invest in Persian carpets.
   Well done Essie Sakhai. I look forward to read your other books.



2. Author does not mention Bokharas, a major design for centuries, (copied by many)except in one small picture. Kurdish tribal rugs are not covered, even though they are becoming increasingly rare. (Try to find one and you'll be steered to a Turkish or Afghan rug!)I expected more detail in the Bidjar design, for example. Most pictures are of older rare rugs--not a great help when looking in todays shops.There is no mention of the Pakistan and Indian rugs of today. He should tell the reader that these are also decent "oriental" rugs.