Published by Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1983, softcover, pictorial boards, full page colour photographic imagery, 159 pages, 21.3 cms x 20.7 cms, condition: basically as new.
Marvellous book, splendidly illustrated, at the intersection of art, technique and social patterns; and also information for connoisseurs and collectors. I have been in love with weaving since I got a toy loom from my 8th birthday, and can imagine spending my life making rugs like this.
This is an amazing book on Oriental rugs, perhaps the perfect one. Recently in a review for James Opies Tribal Rugs: Nomadic and Village Weavings from the Near East and Central Asia I wrote, To me the perfect rug book will include scenic pictures (weaver's at their looms and sheep in their pastures) of each type of rug to show us where and how the rugs arise as much as what the finished works of art look like. And I thought Opies book came close, but this one certainly accomplishes this!
Jon Thompson set out to make the dazzlingly complex and varied world of Oriental Carpets more understandable to the novice, and chose to organize his book in four basic categories based on how the rugs are made not by the usual listing of them by which town, city, region or tribe the weavers are from. (And this works better than P.R.J. Fords 'Oriental Carpet which took the different route of organizing by motifs which are shared across various regions and weaving styles, and so ended up lacking somewhat the more personal aspect of by whom and how they are made.)
So, the four categories are; 1) Tribal and domestic weavings, 2) cottage industry, 3) town or workshop carpets, and 4) court carpets. There is plenty of helpful well written text, but the main treat is the abundant photos of people weaving (even toddlers!), people with their animals and camps, people using their rugs in daily life, and of course the rugs themselves, mostly antiques of fabulous quality (all clearly labeled by both which style of weaving and which tribe or town/region), but the people, their daily lives and labors make up at least half the photos. 5+ stars!
