METAPHORS OF POETRY AND POWER
Shawls from Kashmir and their copies
Carol Bier

RUGS FROM THE TREASURY OF BIJAPUR AND JAIPUR
Franz Sindermann, Georges Bonani

To think about Kashmir shawls and their derivatives is to glimpse at the history of European civilization from a lens that is different than that through which we recognize the more traditional paradigm of Renaissance – Enlightenment – Humanism – Modern Age. It is to explore the formation and formulation of arts of the Mughal dynasty (1526-1858), treated admirably by Dr. Joseph Dye of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the cultural interactions of trade and influence between Kashmir, India, Iran, the Caucasus, and the West, as addressed in the outstanding presentations of Dr. ( ... )

During the past five years, one of the authors had repeatedly visited two places in India – Bijapur in Karnataka and Jaipur in Rajasthan – and had studied what was left of the local treasuries of 17^th-century carpets, which had been “discovered” at the end of the nineteenth century. Regarding the Bijapur carpets, results have already been published in GHEREH ¹⁾. From the study, small samples were left over, taken from the disintegrated warps of seven carpets at the Asar Mahal in Bijapur. At first, it was only one sample (taken from a Vase carpet) that was submitted to radiocarbon testing. ( ... )

The vast plains stretching across south-western Iran in the region called Fars, between one of the most southern bastions of the Mount Zagros mountains and the coast of the Persian Gulf, have for many centuries been inhabited by nomadic peoples of various origin. The mild climate in winter, the plains that are well-watered for cultivation and the easy access to the high valleys of the Zagros in summer make of the area an ideal territory for nomadic populations, accustomed to a seasonal transhumance seeking out the best conditions for themselves and their flocks. (...)