Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Monday, November 21, 2011
Early Period Rugs and Home Decor
Early Period Rugs and Home Decor
One of the great divides in the rug world is the distinction between newer rugs and those that can be termed antique. This is a distinction that operates on various levels involving artistic and technical quality, rarity, and, of course, price. New rugs are not simply those that arrive in the market direct from a manufacturer without ever having been used, but also those with an age of thirty years or less. Antique rugs are those at least eighty years old, while older and semi-antique rugs fill the gap between the new and antique. But these other categories are of little import; it is the fully antique label that really matters. Antique rugs have hand-spun wool, their colors are made with all or primarily vegetable-derived dyes, and they are produced with designs rooted authentically in traditions hundreds of years old. Unlike new rugs, there is a finite number of rugs made before 1920. This number may shrink, but it can never increase. Antique rugs not only have quality, but rarity as well, and this tends to increase their value with the passing of time. But there is another divide of this sort, although it is not as well known. This is the divide between rugs designated as antique and those known as Early rugs and textiles, those made before 1800. Given the essential fragility of woven art, rugs of this age in anything approaching good condition are far rarer than antique rugs of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This makes them even more expensive than nineteenth century pieces, but their rarity has also made Early Period pieces somewhat unfamiliar to the larger rug-buying public. Instead, early rugs or carpets and textiles of this kind have so far been primarily of interest to specialist collectors. This is unfortunate, since many early pieces are carpets of a substantial size, which, if in sufficiently good condition, make excellent decorative rugs. For those who can appreciate the particular beauty and superior artistry of Early Period rugs, they remain a largely untapped resource for high quality interior décor. A few examples from the Nazmiyal Collection will suffice to illustrate this point.
17th Century Esfahan, seen above, is a classical Safavid Persian carpet of a type generally attributed to Isfahan, although this has never been proven conclusively. But wherever in Persia this exquisite piece was made some time around 1650, it is an outstanding example of Persian rug weaving at its peak. The field design consists of flame-like, elaborately stylized flowers or palmettes connected by a trellis of fine vines and sinuous cloudbands. Somewhat different palmettes connected by interlacing strapwork vines make up the main border. Those familiar with later antique Persian carpets of the nineteenth century will recognize in this piece the ancestor of many of the great Kermans, Kashans, and Tabriz produced in the decades just before 1900 as part of a widespread revival of Persian rug weaving.
But the classical forerunners lor originals like 17th Century Isfahan Rug have a special quality that sets them apart. Their drawing is meticulous and full of life because their designs were at that time new, cutting-edge artistic creations emanating for the court of the Safavid Persian Shahs. The palette of these classical pieces is also different with its emphasis on soft golds, greens, blues, and terracottas. The colors are saturated and full of depth, but not strong or harsh. The proportions of the rug are a bit narrow for the length, 6 x 12, but still very usable as a room-size carpet. The pile is very low, lower indeed than many antique nineteenth century pieces, as one would expect for a rug over three hundred years old. But the artistic quality and presence of the piece more than compensate for this.
16th Century Alcaraz is a Spanish carpet probably woven in the town of Alcaraz in the mid sixteenth century. Early Spanish carpets of this type grew out of the production begun earlier in Spain under the rule of the Moors. But immediately following the Reconquista and the expulsion of the Moors by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, Spanish carpets abandoned the Islamic patterns of earlier times in favor of more European designs of Renaissance and Greco-Roman derivation like this splendid piece. Elaborate acanthus vinescrolls sprouting delicate palmettes in deep aubergine sprawl as a network across the warm terracotta ground, while a border of dragon-like s-shaped vines encloses the whole composition. This is a carpet that has the richness of a fine textile like a Renaissance silk brocade or velvet. At approximately 5 x 10 it too would make an excellent room-size rug even though it is also a first rate museum piece. 
From the other side of the world comes 17th century Ningsia, a magnificent Ningshia carpet made in an imperial workshop in seventeenth century China. At first glance the field looks fairly open with a scatter or small rosette-like Chinese cloud motifs in shades of blue. In actuality the field contains a lush allover vinescroll, but it barely shows up given its subtle tone-on-tone coloration is shades of golden tan. The two narrow borders of half-rosettes and fretwork provide a reserved, understated frame for the subtlety of the field. More than three hundred years have not been able to compromise in the least the sumptuous decorative effect of this wonderful carpet. 
18th Century Yankand is a saph or multiple niche communal prayer rug of the eighteenth century from East Turkestan to the West of Tibet. Each of the panels is a mihrab, an arch-shaped door or window onto paradise. Although the piece was made for communal worship the ornamental treatment of the details has considerable decorative effect as a runner some nine feet long. The dyes on this piece, especially the green, are simply superb, endowing it with a jewel-like mosaic quality. In view of its delicate condition it would now serve more appropriately as a wall hanging that could provide the illusion of a row of windows. Early rugs and textiles are certainly not the esoteric “collector items” that they are so often taken to be. They were originally produced as decorative interior furnishings at an elite level of patronage. There is no reason, therefore, that should not function in this way today, so long as they are sufficiently well preserved and treated with care. They offer a superior degree of elegance and artistry that is a notch or two above most nineteenth century rugs. For those discerning enough to tell the difference and willing to pay for it, Early Period rugs are a gateway to a lost era of grace and luxury.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Beck's backing bumps Skousen book to top
Beck's backing bumps Skousen book to top
Move over, Oprah. Apparently, a book recommendation from Fox News Channel talk show host Glenn Beck carries a lot of punch, too.
Beck, who will speak at the Stadium of Fire during America's Freedom Festival at Provo on July 4, has told viewers and listeners of his TV and radio shows to buy a book published nearly 30 years ago by late Utah and Mormon author W. Cleon Skousen.
On Friday, after several days in the top 10, "The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World, Principles of Freedom 101" leaped to No. 1 on Amazon.com's list of Bestsellers in Books.
"Everyone should read this book," the conservative talk show host said as he passed out copies during a recent broadcast. On his radio program Friday evening, Beck touted the book's climb to No. 1.
Skousen published "The 5000 Year Leap" in 1981, nearly 25 years after he published "The Naked Communist," a national bestseller that has sold more than 1 million copies.
"The 5000 Year Leap" is now in its seventh edition. In it, Skousen lists 28 fundamental beliefs he declared were held by America's Founding Fathers. He suggested those core beliefs made possible more world progress in the first 200 years of the American experiment than was made in the previous 5,000.
Beck added an introduction to the copies he handed out on his show. "(Skousen) was years ahead of his time," Beck wrote. "And our founders were thousands of years ahead of their time. My hope is that all Americans young and old will spend time with this book to understand why we are who we are. The words of our Founding Fathers have a way of reaching across any political divide."
Beck, as Skousen was, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"They are words of wisdom that I can only describe as divinely inspired," Beck continued in his introduction. "They are here for us to help solve the unsolvable — and they are the reason why we have for so long been the greatest nation on earth. But most importantly, in these pages, you will find hope."
Beck, who regularly criticizes the Obama administration and decries the nation's financial future on his shows, is the third most-watched individual on cable television. His 5 p.m. program averaged nearly 2.2 million viewers last month.
He has been featured during the Stadium of Fire in Provo for the past two years.
Skousen died in 2006 at the age of 92. A sometimes controversial figure inside and outside the church, where he was close to late church President David O. McKay, he caused a huge flap in 1960 when as Salt Lake City's police chief he raided a private club where new Mayor J. Bracken Lee was playing cards. Lee fired Skousen.
Skousen spent 15 years as a professor at Brigham Young University in two stints. An FBI agent who worked with J. Edgar Hoover, he ran for governor of Utah and organized the Freemen Institute, later known as the National Center for Constitutional Studies, which published "The 5000 Year Leap."
Skousen never joined the ultra-conservative John Birch Society but was a supporter. NewMajority.com writer David Frum has called Skousen a Mormon Bircher and characterizes him as one of the "legendary cranks of the conservative world, a John Bircher, a grand fantasist of theories about secret conspiracies between capitalists and communists to impose a one-world government."
Dozens of Amazon.com book reviewers have praised "The 5000 Year Leap." One, S. Peek, wrote that "The premise of the book is that because of the free market system that took root after our Constitution was enacted, the United States literally made a 5,000-year leap of progress in the time since then."
The book outlines sources of thought used by the Founders as they developed the Constitution, including Cicero, Locke, Montesquieu and Adam Smith.
"One great thing about this book is that the author discusses some of the problems that we have faced in recent years arising from failure to follow the Constitution and the principles of the Founders," Peek wrote at Amazon.com. "Some of these are issues like the mounting national debt, excessive taxation and judicial activism."
E-MAIL: haddoc@desnews.com
Friday, September 12, 2008
Morton Sobell in Rosenberg Case Admits to Soviet Spying
By SAM ROBERTS
Published: September 11, 2008
In 1951, Morton Sobell was tried and convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges. He served more than 18 years in Alcatraz and other federal prisons, traveled to Cuba and Vietnam after his release in 1969 and became an advocate for progressive causes.
Librado Romero/The New York Times
Morton Sobell, 91, at his home in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.
Related
Times Topics: Ethel Rosenberg
Times Topics: Julius Rosenberg
Web Link
Records of the Rosenberg Grand Jury Transcripts
National Security Archive
A U.S. Marshal escorted Morton Sobell, left, to Federal Court in New York in March of 1951.
Readers' Comments
What do you think of Morton Sobell's confession that he was a Soviet spy?
Through it all, he maintained his innocence.
But on Thursday, Mr. Sobell, 91, dramatically reversed himself, shedding new light on a case that still fans smoldering political passions. In an interview, he admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy.
And he implicated his fellow defendant Julius Rosenberg, in a conspiracy that delivered to the Soviets classified military and industrial information and what the American government described as the secret to the atomic bomb.
In the interview with The New York Times, Mr. Sobell, who lives in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, was asked whether, as an electrical engineer, he turned over military secrets to the Soviets during World War II when they were considered allies of the United States and were bearing the brunt of Nazi brutality. Was he, in fact, a spy?
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, call it that,” he replied. “I never thought of it as that in those terms.”
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
University of Denver Renames International Studies School in Honor of Founder Josef Korbel
University of Denver Renames International Studies School in Honor of Founder Josef Korbel
Renaming captures the influential teachings of Korbel-- father of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright--and signals the Josef Korbel School of International Studies' continuing commitment to shape global leaders.
Denver, CO (PRWEB) May 28, 2008 -- The greatest tributes to a teacher are the accomplishments of those inspired by his ideas and visions. The legacy of Josef Korbel is unique--he educated two Secretaries of State, his daughter Madeleine K. Albright and Condoleezza Rice--as well as scores of others who are carrying on his tradition, and that of the school now named in his honor.
The culmination of Korbel's lifelong journey was marked May 28, 2008, as the University of Denver Graduate School of International Studies, founded by the former Czechloslovak diplomat in 1964, was renamed the Josef Korbel School of International Studies. The school's mission continues to be dedicated to preparing talented and idealistic students for careers of distinction in the public, private and non-profit sectors.
 just as he was grateful and proud to be a member of the University of Denver community.  |
The Josef Korbel School's professional master's degree program is one of the 10 best in the United States according to a survey released by Foreign Policy magazine. It is among the elite in the world for the study of international human rights, development, health and humanitarian assistance, international and homeland security, and the political economy of investment and trade. The program ranked ninth ahead of Yale, the University of Chicago, the University of Southern California and the University of California at San Diego. The biennial survey was conducted by researchers at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, who reviewed international relations programs at 1,199 four-year colleges in the U.S.
The school's rich legacy includes a long list of prominent graduates. In addition to Secretary Rice, the list includes: Heraldo Munoz, the current Ambassador to the United Nations for Chile; Gen. George Casey, Jr., chief of staff of the United States Army; Ambassador Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations; Susan Waltz, the former chair of Amnesty International's International Executive Committee; Pierre-Michel Fontaine, the former director of the Office the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Jami Miscik, Global Head of Sovereign Risk, Lehman Brothers and former Deputy Director for Intelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency; Thomas Stauffer, president, CEO and professor of Management at American University in Afghanistan; and Masoumah Al-Mubarak, minister of Health for Kuwait and the first woman to hold a cabinet position.
"The Josef Korbel School of International Studies is a global leader in producing practical idealists equipped with the broad perspectives, critical minds, and technical skills required for careers of distinction in the public, private and non-profit sectors of today's integrated world," said Tom Farer, dean of the Josef Korbel School. "In their commitment to the public good, no less than their personal success, the school's graduates personify the legacy of Josef Korbel."
Josef Korbel was born in Czechoslovakia in 1909. His political activities and his Jewish heritage forced him to flee to London after the Nazi invasion in 1939. While in London, he served as an advisor to the exiled Czechoslovak president. After the war, Korbel returned to his homeland where he was appointed the Czechoslovak ambassador to Yugoslavia. In 1948, Korbel and his family took refuge in the United States following the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia. In 1949, he began teaching international affairs at the University of Denver and in 1964 he founded the Graduate School of International Studies and became its first dean. He died in 1977, but his memory and his ideals endure.
The University of Denver (www.du.edu), the oldest private university in the Rocky Mountain region, enrolls approximately 11,117 students in its undergraduate and graduate programs. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Denver as a Research University with high research activity.
Friday, May 23, 2008
New Details on US Terror Network
According to IRNA, the statement noted that intelligence officials foiled the terrorist group and gained valuable information about its organization in America.
“The Information Ministry discovered reliable documents pertaining to special centers in the US and Israel, and their cooperation with anti-Iran terrorist networks. Complementary investigation about the group, which officially has an anti-religious stance, is continuing. Results will be made available to the people of Iran in a few days,“ the statement noted
It also said that in tandem with the interrogations, international legal and diplomatic measures will be taken against the US and UK by “competent centers“.
The statement underlined that evidence showed that the US had equipped the group with chemicals, explosives and cyanide.
“The group is responsible for the recent explosion in Shiraz mosque. In this merciless crime, several innocent children of Iran were injured or martyred,“ it said.
The communiquŽ also recalled that the terrorist group intended to plant bombs in the Tehran International Book Fair and a few scientific, educational and religious centers, and also create insecurity in the densely-populated cities of the country.
It also said the members of the terrorist network were identified and arrested in Fars, Khuzestan, Gilan, West Azarbaijan and Tehran provinces on May 7.
“One member of the group was killed during the operations and other members are under custody,“ it said.
The announcement emphasized that the main goal of the group was to create fear and intimidation.
“Terrorist acts against the Russian Consulate in Gilan and explosion of oil pipelines in southern Iran were also among their targets. That’s why American centers had planned scuba diving training for the group to target undersea oil pipelines in the Persian Gulf,“ it said.
International Anti-Terrorism Drive Needed
 |
| Alaeddin Boroujerdi |
Boroujerdi made the remark in the inaugural ceremony of the International Conference of Kalkan in Tehran on Tuesday, which is Interpol’s anti-terrorism initiative in Central Asia, IRNA reported.
Noting that unilateral or bilateral efforts by particular countries are not sufficient in this respect, the lawmaker said, “If the phenomenon of terrorism is considered an international challenge, political and governmental means needed for dealing with it.“
Kalkan is the name of a plan for fighting international terrorism and 20 to 22 countries from North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia participate in it. “Although there are efforts to fight international terrorism by governments and global organizations, the responses to the ominous phenomenon are insufficient,“ he said.
Pointing to the establishment of conventions for fighting terrorism, he mentioned that more efforts and planning are needed to confront the phenomenon in line with the growth of international terrorism and its role in the world.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has been a victim of terrorist acts, but the terrorist groups have been given safe haven in western countries,“ he said.
Boroujerdi further said current developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are obvious examples of terrorism and organized crimes, and that Israeli state terrorism targeted the Palestinian activists as well. “Terrorism is not limited to national and trans-national borders, because it has increased alongside globalization,“ he said, adding that no government or region is immune from the threat of sabotages and terrorist acts.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Study: False statements preceded war
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 23, 6:43 AM ET
WASHINGTON - A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."
The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration's position that the world community viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.
"The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," Stanzel said.
The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.
"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."
Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.
Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.
The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.
"The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.
"Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said.