Dear Folks,

I thought it might be instructive to have a couple of rugs to look at. Here are two, both from the Jon Thompson collection sale at Sotheby's in December 1993. Thompson is a collector who, by anyone's standards, knows rugs and has an aesthetic appreciation for them.

The first, a piece of a 16th century Lotto carpet (Lot 72) is about 2Ɗ x 2Ɔ. It sold for $3,450. I found it of not the slightest interest.

The other, a fragment of a Salor chuval (Lot 60) is about 2ƈ x 2Ɔ. It sold for $12,075. While I know that the intact chuval would have been more beautiful still, I thought this a gorgeous piece, with wonderful color and delicious tactile qualities. And, while obviously incomplete, there was a certain coherence to the design, something that did not come through to me at all in the Lotto.

Perhaps articulating this will help me (and maybe even some others) understand my reactions to fragments.

Steve Price