The weavings of the Bedouin (????), a term that generically applies to nomadic desert dwelling people of the middle east, are apparently finally getting some valuable appreciation. This article says that the rich and famous of Israel are buying them up quite quickly.
The Three princes of Serendip is an ancient Indian/Persian story about three brothers who go on various quests. It is from this story that Horace Walpole originally coined the term “serendipity”.
In these stories the three princes use small and seemingly insignificant clues to discover things about the nature of events. Their technique is akin to […]
Isfahan province is situated in the approximate center of Iran. In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries this area prospered as part of Safavid Persia. The city of Isfahan was the seat of their monarchy and is well known for its architectural beauty. During the safavid dynasty both the weaving of rugs and other forms […]
Spongobongo.com’s Barry O’Connell is an extremely well-known and well-respected name when it comes to rugs.
Recently Barry O’Connell was able to answer a few of our questions in a brief e-mail interview.
In a broad sense, how are weavings and rugs different from other forms of art?
Rugs are a non-verbal language. Each different type of rug […]
Here is an interesting contemporary rug design from a company called vilde. The differently shaded triangles are meant to simulate three-dimensional form.
Here is the third and final part of the story of the Caliph al-Zafir.
Part III
With the politically weak Caliph back control the commander of the last Fatimid foothold in Syria returned to Cairo and took the vizierate for himself (the place that he commanded in Syria was lost to the franks shortly after). Aware of […]
Here is the second part of the story of al-Zafir’s time as caliph of the Fatimids.
Part II
However, it was not long before the governor of Alexandria revolted and marched on Cairo at the head of his troops. The Alexandrian governor conquered Cairo, killed the vizier Ibn Masal, and appointed himself as vizier. However, shortly after […]
Towards the end of Fatimid control of Cairo and Egypt there were some bold and dramatic movies for control of the ever-weakening state. I have come to enjoy these examples for their values as stories and human strife. The first part of a condensed (and possibly quite overly summarized) version of one particularly dramatic example […]
I had heard of fiber optics woven into rugs before. However, for some reason people had not posted pictures of these rugs. It is an interesting twist, however, unless used with the utmost care it could be rather ostentatious.
Here is a picture in which the fiber optics in the rug totally seems to fit with […]
A vizier is a high-ranking advisor or minister. This position was often the advisor to the Muslim monarch (Caliph, Amir, Malik or Sultan). The vizier is sometimes also a religious advisor.
In western culture the vizier is often portrayed as an evil plotter and the real power behind the thrown. One recent example of this is […]