Woven Luxuries: Rare Persian velvet collection on display in Bay area
It is a rare opportunity for residents of Bay area in northern California to travel back in time and see original delicate woven silk velvets from Persia's centuries past. More than just practical clothing and furnishings, silk velvets symbolized sophisticated taste and cultural power in courtly Islamic society, especially during the 16th–18th centuries. Woven Luxuries: Indian, Persian, and Turkish Velvets from the Indictor Collection offers a glimpse of the splendor and diversity of these velvets. On view for a limited time in Tateuchi Gallery at Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the 11 textiles in this exhibition are selections from a private New York collection, providing a glimpse into the richness and diversity of Iranian, Indian and Turkish silk velvets. Spanning three distinct cultural areas with their own design sensibilities and tastes, this group of textiles showcases different techniques of velvet production and suggests their varied uses (event details link).
Delicate and sensuous, requiring high-quality materials and specialized expertise, velvets were made in more limited quantities than other types of fine textiles. Gaining popularity across the world from the 15th century onwards, velvets were the textiles par excellence at the royal courts of Mughal India, Safavid Iran and Ottoman Turkey—the three “superpowers” of the early modern Islamic world. These textiles were popular not only in their local contexts but also in Europe, where they impacted design and fashion. While used for ceremonial attire and robes of honor in diplomatic gift exchange, the principal use of velvet fabric was for furnishings such as carpets, throne covers, cushions, wall hangings and tent panels.
Exhibition highlights include two complete 17th-century velvets from India and Iran, each measuring nearly 6 by 4 feet and preserving not only their design elements but also their vibrant colors. The exhibition also features a fragmentary Mughal carpet border, whose high quality of artistry and materials suggests that it would have been made for a royal patron. On public display for the first time is a large Ottoman textile featuring a motif associated with good luck.
Holding an event in the Asian Art Museum provides an opportunity to explore artifacts from 40 Asian nations, including Iran, spanning 6000 years. Formerly the city’s main library, the magnificent 1917 Beaux Arts Building, restored to its original grandeur, overlooks San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza.
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