American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7

by Mike Tschebull

ACOR 7 took place March 25-28 in Seattle, Washington, USA, centered in the waterfront Bell Harbour Conference Centre. As is common in Seattle, there was usually a fine misty rain, but the scenery was spectacular when we had a bit of sun. Food and drink were good, with Seattle well-known for fresh wild Salmon and micro-brewed beer.What follows is an idiosyncratic tour of the exhibitions, one focus session, and images of Dealers’ Row. Regarding the choice of images shown, a group of any number of other ones could have been compiled with equal success.

Exhibitions

The ACOR 7 exhibition space was well laid out and covered a large area. Temporary walls were hung with with black paper, which made the rugs and textiles look well. Lighting was unusually good, and it was said that the wife of one of the ACOR board members was key to its success.

The first objects shown upon entering the exhibition area were Chilkat dance blankets, woven with wild goat hair on cedar root foundations. This example, from the 19th century, was shown with an accompanying pattern board.

Chilkat robe pattern board 600x295 - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — Chilkat dance blankets

ACOR7 Ata chuval 600x423 - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — Ata chuval

ACOR7 Saryq chuval 600x447 - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — “Saryq” chuval, machine serged on all four sides. Asymmetric knots; left and right borders missing. Pets nice, good color. Jon Thompson opines that the weaver of this bag was “Ersaryq”.

Hands-on sessions

ACOR7 Hands on session 600x440 - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — Hands on session

There were sixteen “hands-on” sessions, with individual collectors sharing mostly small pieces with an audience of limited size.In the pictured session, Ralph and Linda Kaffel were showing a pair of small European-design Zeihur pile rugs. The format works well.

Dealer’s Row

Dealers’ Row was large and diverse.

More images from the exhibitions

ACOR7 Quba - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — Early “Quba” kennereh, previously published by Jim Burns.

ACOR7 Bijov design Quba - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — “*Bijov*“-design Quba with a design much like one seen in Zeikhur rugs, but with fewer, larger elements; unusual border; seemingly older, very unusual.

ACOR7 Seljuk fragment - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — Kirchheim “Seljuk” fragment.

ACOR 7 Azarbayjani rug - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — Azarbayjani pile rug, probably village work from East Azarbayjan.

ACOR7 Qarabagh prayer rug - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — Qarabagh prayer rug with early color; indecipherable date.

ACOR7 Quba fragment - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — Quba fragment, perhaps earlier than most. It is finally becoming acceptable to exhibit fragments of early 19th century interesting Transcaucasian village-woven pile rugs. To call such rugs simply “*Caucasian*” is a misnomer.

boteh - American Conference on Oriental Rugs - ACOR 7 — *Ersari* carpet with repeat boteh

April 1, 2004, Mike Tschebull, Tschebull Antique Carpets