Re: Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?

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: : : "Oriental" rugs have been collected (or purchased) by Europeans for centuries and by Americans since colonial times. The records of Belvoir House show that George Washington bought a large carpet for the dining room at Mount Vernon in the 1790's. : : : The motivations for acquisition are likely to be as numerous as the countries in which they originate. : : : The prominent collectors from 1890 to 1930 bought rugs which were the woolly equivalents of Old Masters paintings. The rug books of the time were not filled with the purely utilitarian objects or the wonky "ethnographic" material that some collectors prefer today. : : : Tastes change with the times in ways that are quite apparent retrospectively. We now all realize that the Caucasian rugs we commonly thought to be "nomadic" or "tribal" in the 1960's are just a form of commercial production. One day I believe there will be a consensus that much of the Turkmen weaving springs from a similar commercial well. We need not romanticize rugs in order to love them. : : : The current resurgence in interest in oriental rugs probably started in the 60's when, emerging from WWII, the West took notice of the commerce in other countries and continents and we expanded our personal horizons. : : : Chance, as Yon says, must play an important role in what we collect. In the process of collecting these artifacts, some collect art and some collect facts. : : : Wendel : : : Tastes change with the times in ways that are quite apparent retrospectively. We now all realize that the Caucasian rugs we : : commonly thought to be "nomadic" or "tribal" in the 1960's are just a form of commercial production. One day I believe there : : will be a consensus that much of the Turkmen weaving springs from a similar commercial well. We need not romanticize rugs in : : order to love them. : : : I agree with the above statement. Most Turkomen weaving done after 1880 was for commercial purposes. From 1850 to 1880 I would say that commercial considerations were important to the weavers. Before that time the aesthetic was culturally intact and what you have is 4-600 hundred years of uninterrupted textile design of great persistence. Mr. Hipps is also much more right than he is wrong. Psychological motivations prevade the collecting environment. Don't believe it? Ask any dealer who is honest what are the most important elements in the process of making a sale, you will see what I mean. JIM : What I'm trying to get at is why people make the things they do and why and how some of these objects are invested (by their makers) with more meaning than others and why, hundreds of years after the fact, we find ourselves drawn to them. What were the weavers of these cultures in touch with in themselves that gave rise to these creations? I don't know if they are in touch with it anymore. Yet, I can look at some of the older rugs and I'm clearly experiencing something unusual. I'm curious about how this works. It's OK to call it "romantic" but I would hope that it's not left at that. Jon

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