MARKET REPORT

The Energy and the Ecstacy

Milan has just enjoyed the liveliest season of autumn events since the memorable ICOC year of 1999. Nunzio Crisareports on a packed carpet and textile calendar.

Autumn 2005 began with the revival of one of the quirkiest rug and textile events of the early 1990s – the Sartirana Fair (HALI 144, p.127), staged in a 16th century castle in the Milanese hinterland. Back in town this was followed by plenty of action among the city’s rug dealing community. On via Brera, work has finished at Moshe Tabibnia’s enlarged premises, whileon via Santa Marta, Nader (Karim Sobouti) opened his smart new gallery (right) with an inaugural exhibition. Nader’s name is firmly associated with Anatolian and Caucasian village rugs, but with his additional display space, expect to see a range of

new gallery, is situated at the very heart of Milan’s fashion district, in a courtyard just opposite Davide Halevim’s former location. Kashanian’s passion remains the Chinese and Xinjiang carpets featured in his opening exhibition (and catalogue), but he has also shown that he is able to source high quality decorative carpets such as the Bakhshaish seen on the back cover of HALI 143. Beyond the gallery scene, we saw the regular return of the Milan Antiquaria. This year (22-23 October 2005) the organisers chose to think big, doubling the number of display spaces and exhibitors. Determined to grab the headlines

decorative carpets as well. Nader’s move to a more central location places him in what is becoming the focal point of antique rug activity in Milan, as within a block or so, rug enthusiasts can browse through the offerings of Alberto Levi and David Sorgato. All three are younger dealers with a lively approach and a willingness to innovate. Khotan, Rodolfo Kashanian’s

and increase visitor totals from the 15,000 recorded in 2004, they decided the time had come to admit 20th century decorative arts. With more than two hundred exhibitors, visitors were able to enjoy a much wider perspective on what could be called ‘art’. Rug dealers were fully on track, sparing no effort to impress. Mirco Cattai (Mohtashem), Dario Valcarenghi, Claudia Pavignano,

David Sorgato and others did their best to meet client needs.By the end of the show, they reported good business and new contacts. There was much at this fair that deserves mention for its rarity, quality or simply beauty. I was delighted by a squarish decorative Beijing carpet with light blue field and chequered border sold by Alberto Levi (left), and by a mossgreen-ground Gansu (above) shown by the dynamic duo of Robin Parvizyar and Kat Mackle. Already seen at Sartirana and the HALI Fair, it has the beautythat makes old northwest Chinese weaves so sought after by Italian collectors. Next up was the first combined

sale of rugs and textiles at Finarte (10 November), whicharoused good interest and high expectations.The preview went briskly enough, but the auction had a few flat patches. African tribal and Far Eastern textiles found buyers, but European Renaissance pieces and Middle Easternsilks met with a lukewarm response, demonstrating how difficult it is to get Italians to buy quality textiles. The carpet session, by contrast, seemed to re-energise bidders, and some interesting lots found their way to new private clients. Top lot was a lovely large white-ground Ningxia of the type often mislabelled ‘Mongolian’, impressive for the fluid rendering of its design. The cover lot, a small Ningxia rug with a tiger-pelt design, made for the Lamaist market of Tibet and northern China, also sold, as did a good number of 19th century Caucasian village rugs, the bread and butter of the local market. The sale total exceeded €350,000, a decent result and a great improvement on previous years. As people poured out of the Finarte saleroom, two fresh events were waiting for textile art aficionados: Alberto Levi’s exhibition of Chinese carpets, and David Sorgato introduced the Milanese public for the first time to textiles and jewellery from the hilltribes of southwest China.

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