| jpweiler@worldnet.att.net I can not say that the Millenium began in
1539, but the carpet I would call the most important of the millenium is
probably the Ardabil Carpet(s). These magnificent masterpieces emerged
from centuries of isolation at the beginning of the renaissance of modern
carpet appreciation in the late 19th century. Their display began the
whirlwind (with a few doldrums) of the "modern" love affair with Oriental
Carpets. They probably initiated the salvation of innumerable examples of
this ever-so-fragile art by the truly great early collectors to whom we
owe so much. My personal choice for a carpet that embodies much of the
romance of the tribal/village geometric idiom would be the Berlin Dragon
and Phoenix carpet. It will take a bit of thinking to finish up with
10..... Patrick Weiler |