| EXHIBITIONS PREVIEW

New England Expects...

ACOR 8 in Boston in April 2006 will provide a showcase for the rich collections of New England Rug Society members within eight focused exhibitions. Here, to whet readers’ appetites, Fred Ingham introduces the shows and selects a few colourful and diverse examples of what will be on show .

The American Conference on Oriental Rugs has always provided a forum for the host rug society to present some pieces from its members’ collections. ACOR 8 in Boston in April 2006 is taking this tradition one step further, with eight exhibitions in which every piece is owned by New England Rug Society members. Despite this nominally restrictive criterion, the exhibitions, all but one conveniently located in the Park Plaza Hotel, will cover the widest array of topics and themes, with something of interest to everyone.

Gems of the Caucasus - Antique Caucasian Carpets from the Rudnick Collection Rosalie and Mitchell Rudnick have been buying antique Caucasian rugs for over twenty years. In that time, they have built a first-rate collection with many important examples. In ‘Gems of the Caucasus’,they will present 37 of their rugs, but rather than showing one of each type, or trying to present a full chronology of Caucasian weaving, the Rudnicks have chosen to present the rugs that they have come to love for their sheer visual artistry. The Rudnick Collection reflects twenty years of buying, but also of selling. Mitch and Rosalie have continuously tried to improve their collection, not just to augment it. Over time, they have found themselves drawn to earlier pieces, and in particular to rugs from the southern parts of the Caucasus, such as a Surahani with a double-keyhole design, dated 1854 (1). A group of Moghan area pieces includes an exquisitely woven long rug, with rich colours and carefully drawn design elements, with an inscription that dates it to 1830 (3). The display will also include an early classical Dragon carpet fragment, a number of prayer-format rugs, and some Talish long rugs. In some instances, the juxtaposing of similar rugs will invite comparisons,

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without distracting visitors from the main purpose of this exhibition, which is to present beautiful examples of antique Caucasian weaving for their own sake.

Unusual and Overlooked – Antique Textiles from Central Asia Curator Jeff Spurr, a collector of eclectic textiles from all corners of the world, has taken on the worthwhile goal of showing pieces from Central Asia that are outside the standard types one normally associates with the area. Rather than focusing on Turkmen pile rugs, ikats,

and suzanis, he has striven to bring together a groupof items from the fringes of collector consciousness. He will show unusual trappings, felts, garments, hats, embroideries, non-ikat resist-dyed textiles (6), velvets, and appliqués. This will be a rewarding effort, since much of the most interesting (and relatively affordable) material that has appeared on the market over the past several years has come from these less well-known Central Asian traditions.

New England Collects The New England Rug Society (NERS), with some 170 members, is one of the largest and most active in the USA. This exhibition, notable for the wide diversity of objects to be shown, will highlight some of the strongest

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