Posted by Steve Price on February 03, 1999 at 09:36:13:
In Reply to: Re: Religions or east&west? posted by Tom Cole on February 03, 1999 at 07:49:13:
Dear Tom and Sophia and Everyone Else,
My previous posting was not meant to be harshly critical of Sophia Gates, but simply to point out an error. She stated, "...had westerners woven rugs they would have woven pictures of people."
My response just pointed out that westerners DID weave rugs, and that human images don't figure any more prominently in them than in rugs woven by easterners.
Tom is absolutely correct in pointing out that Spanish rugs have a strong Arab influence, but they also have many more or less purely European elements (heraldic devices, for instance), and French rugs don't seem to me to have any significant Arab influence in them. Whatever their artistic roots, though, I think it is still accurate to say that Europeans wove rugs and that those rugs are not noteworthy for their emphasizing human images more than the eastern ones do.
Steve Price