Posted by Jim Allen on 08-11-2007 11:02 AM:
Jim Allen's Dining Room
Linda and I live in an English Tudor style home built in 1929 by Olan Mills
Sr. Our walls are lat and plaster so hanging a never ending stream of rugs up is
not practical. In our dining room we have hung up one old Konya along with
several Lakai embroideries. The floor rug is an antique Heriz. The sculptures on
the table are 1960's and 1970's Seri Indian work.
Now I Understand
Jim,
It makes perfect sense that Victorian rug collectors put their
rugs on tables and the floor. Putting tack or nail holes in lathe and plaster is
an invitation to disaster.
That looks like Chinoiserie wallpaper on the
walls, unless you have very large bugs in Chattanooga!
And what are the
gremlins on the sconces in the entryway? The glass hanging from the chandelier
could be Turkish!
I love the decorating theme of mix-and-match. It was
quite popular at the turn of the last century, when improved transportation
(trains, planes and automobiles) made the world a much smaller place than it had
ever been before, bringing exotic foreign artifacts to the West.
Patrick
Weiler
Hi Patrick
The gremlins are Fon Lion figures doubtless salvaged from a
larger assemblage. Brass objects such as this were produced exclusively for the
nobility of the Abomey kingdom of Benin. They were cast using a lost wax process
and I have had them for over 30 years.
The colored glass items
seen hanging from the light fixture are candle holders, Arkansas handiwork. I am
the decorator but my architect wife keeps the brakes on me. I would have big
suzanis sewn down on canvas and hung as curtains and I would have a rug on the
table but I have to get along with my dear wife. I love the late Victorian
parlor décor preferred by mystics and charlatans. You know both Gurdjeff and
Ouspensky sold Oriental Rugs to their followers. Jim Allen
Speaking of suzanies hanging from the ceiling, here is an image of our
bedroom:
Lions?
Jim,
Those Fon lion figures just do not look anything like lions to
me. Especially with their long tails. They do, however, look a lot like rodents.
Now a rodent in Africa probably looks a lot like a rodent in South America, just
as a boteh from Iran looks like a pre-Colombian one from Middle America. Not
that they are related in any linear descent.
National Geographic had an
article on the Maya in August and a stone carving seems to show your Fon lion
carrying a decapitated head:
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0708/feature2/gallery1.html
It
is photo #24, the 7th from the last photo in the series.
I have also been
attempting to identify the rug in your bedroom. It looks like it has a cotton
warp and is possibly a version of a Kurdish garden carpet.
Or a Baluch war
rug...
Patrick Weiler
Fon Figures
I don't know what Benin Royalty would have appreciated concerning their art works. Maybe they are rats? I am sure the artists crafted them with care but beyond that I don’t know. It looks like they once held a tray between them. Now as for the rug you describe……I have never published a picture of our bedroom. The picture I posted on TurkoTek is of our dining room and the rug is from the Konya area. The warps are wool. Jim Allen
Hi All
I have no idea what significance people put on rats in Benin,
but in some Asian cultures they are a sign of prosperity. If you have rats, you
must have food.
The bedroom photo is Marvin's.
Steve Price
Rats, I goofed!
Sorry, Marvin. The rats (lions) belong to Jim, the rug in the bedroom is
yours, as is the marvelous suzani.
As for lions of disputable description,
the horse cover in my bedroom has what I think are a couple of lions. They are
on either side of the middle in the second row, just below the two tall women. I
am not able to recall the URL for that photo, so here is the link to the
page:
http://www.turkotek.com/VB22/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3362&pagenumber=1
This
weekend I will take a closer picture and send it to Steve. The lion on the left
may be the male and the lion on the right could be female, because the one on
the left has a "mane" which looks like several parallel lines sticking straight
up from its head. The other animals could be four-legged peacocks, or horses
with very large over-the-back tails.
Patrick Weiler
Folks,
I'm not sure whether they're lions or rats, but I think the
body language makes clear it probably wasn't a tray they were holding. Almost
certainly, it would have been a Tekke ensi. They would have been trying to
figure out the source of some comb motifs. The slightly open mouths and the
shrugged shoulders are the dead giveaway.
In ancient Egypt one aspect of outstretched hands can sometimes be read
without knowing much else. If the hands are both left hands then the entity is
receiving. If the hands are both right hands the entity is bestowing.
Jim's sculptures, from the appearance of their muzzles, seem to be
either a male and female version of the creature or a younger and older version.
It would be interesting to see a good close up of their respective hands/paws.
Sue
Lions?
Here are a couple of traditional Qashqai lions from my bedroom horse cover.
The one on the left has a "mane", so it may be the male. This stylized type of
lion can be found on many Qashqai "Lion Rugs". I suspect there were still a few
fearless lions about when this piece was woven in the first half of the 20th
century.
And here
is an image of the weaver, tall, slender and forceful on the right, with her
sister-in-law on the left. You can tell which is which because the weaver has
eyes, earrings and mouth, while the sister-in-law is an air-head.
Or, they could be wives
number one and two.
What this shows is that an artist can render a version of
something adequately enough to communicate what she wants the viewer to
see.
In the case of lost wax casting, the image must be carved in wax and
then cast in metal. The skill and experience of the artist determines the
quality of the outcome. And these Fon pieces are very well articulated and
detailed. This style was probably quite common to their culture, similar to the
Qashqai Lion Rugs in their culture.
Patrick Weiler
Yummy serving tray ?
Hi Jim,
Thought of the day: Hmm, hors d'oeuvres served on a rat plate.
Tasty.
They look like a matched pair, and, they both have rivets in their
paws. Do you have any ideas as to the function ? Looks like they held some sort
of tray or plate. Any photo references ?
Regards,
Chuck
__________________
Chuck
Wagner
Hi Chuck,
Ok, or maybe Kosher goat presented by pet Chupacabras. Sue
Fon myths - leopards....
I believe Jim's cast pieces are probably depicting young leopards offering
their services and wisdom...
Link here:
http://www.gateway-africa.com/stories/Fon_Creation_Myth.html
Jane
Collins