ORIENTAL CARPETS

GANTZHORN, VOLKMAR (1998) ORIENTAL CARPETS. KOLN: LISBOA: LONDON: TASCHEN. DE 31X124 CM. COM 532 PÁGS. ILUST. E.

This publication traces and analyses the art of the oriental carpet over a period of two and a half thousand years. The author’s research has resulted in completely new contextual insights amounting to nothing less than a revision of the history of the oriental carpet. He has been able to trace patterns back to Phrygian and other traditions, which survived in the work of Armenian craftsmen up to the beginning of our won century: carpets as symbols of power and as deeply religious abstract textile icons.

The oriental carpet is neither of nomadic origin, nor do its origins lie in central Asia; it is a product of ancient oriental civilizations in the Armenian uplands at the crossroads of the oldest trade routes between west, north and south. The author’s assertion is supported by an unprecedented wealth of full-coloured illustrations showing the finest and most important examples of the art of the carpet. The illustrations include book illumination, paintings, decorative arts and architectural details and elucidate previously unknown developments.

This work documents what is probably Armenia’s greatest contribution to cultural history.

Edição de luxuosa execução gráfica, estampada sobre bom papel couché, densa e criteriosamente ilustrada a cores com reprodução de centenas de belíssimas e artísticas fotografias e outras gravuras (antigas) que mostram a riqueza e a exuberância do tapete orienta. Cartonagem editorial com sobrecapa impressa a cores.

Nota: sobrecapa com algum desgaste e leve rasgo no canto superior esquerdo (junto à lombada) da pasta frontal; ex-líbris heráldico colado no verso da pasta anterior; acidez na folha de anterrosto.