Michael Franses: An Early Anatolian Animal Carpet and Related Examples reviewed

9/2/2015 The Animal rug & Tibet Connection: fact or myth

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Author:jc email: Tue, Sep 1st, 2015 04:08:48 PM

Topic: The Animal rug & Tibet Connection: fact or myth

The Doha animalinanimal rug (center) and its group (clockwise: two parts of the Kirchheimanimal in octagon fragment; Jeremy Pine’s two thin fragments of an animal in octagon rug;the best of the bunch the Bruschettini/Genoa carpet with an animalinanimal in a largeoctagon; and the Cagan/Metropolitan Museum of Art four animal rug RK claims is an Afshar)

RK already offered our comments on michael franses’s “Early Animal Rug” podcast given in Doha atthe Hamad bin Khalifa symposium in 2011.

It can be read here: http://rugkazbah.com/boards/records.php?id=2426&refnum=2426

Recently we came across franses’s more detailed written (pdf) presentation on the same subjecttitled “An Early Animal Carpet and Related Examples”, and since no one else will dare review it wehave.

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Cover of franses’s pdf presentation

Before beginning we must say we found it strange franses does not illustrate the subject of his paper,the Doha animal carpet (the former Kirchheim/Holmes carpet), on the cover.

Rather a similar but far inferior example, now owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New YorkCity, was used.

The Met’s carpet was also originally purchased from ms Holmes at about the same time our oldbuddy Heinrich Kirchheim bought, and then several years later sold, the one which is now in Doha.

By the way Kirchheim got such a large return on this sale it paid for every carpet he had ever bought,several times over.

RK can only suspect the decision to use the Met’s carpet was franses’s belief the importance of acarpet purchased by the world’s most prestigious art museum, even if inferior, far outweighs apurchase by the less well known, or important, Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar.

Adding further question is franses’s employment by the Museum Authority in Doha, leading anyone tothink his allegiance would lie there.

But RK has long maintained franses has no loyalty to anyone but himself and is nothing but awannabe pretentious snob who is impressed by, and passionately seeks, status and notoriety forhimself.

More than likely this is the reason the Met’s carpet, and not Doha’s, appears on the title page.

We also need to make clear our amazement at the lack of scholarship both his talk and this writtenpresentation display.

There is an unmistakable thread of gollygee amateurism throughout, as well as more than a fewundocumented assumptions presented as facts; a smattering of grossly incorrect statements; andomissions of his former ownership of, and involvement with, the sales of carpets mentioned in thispaper.

Again, we can only surmise, it is knowing the oriental carpet field lacks any genuine critical reviewthat allows an author like franses to present a far from academic effort like this one.

For instance in the second paragraph franses offers up this absurdly naïve and completely untrue,



mind you, statement:

“For more than 10,000 years, tribal symbols have been portrayed through woven items on costume,animal trappings, tents and carpets”

Not only is this the stuff of fairytale far more suited to a children’s bedtime story, it shows franses tobe nothing but the academic poser we have often claimed.

Presenting illusionary ideas with no documentation or backup is typical for the carpet field andfranses, who pretends to be the field’s leading expert, just follows suit.

He then continues to build on such ridiculous notions “These motifs were the very language of thepeoples who created them, bestowing fertility, warding off evil spirits, bringing joy in life or richness tothe land, and carrying the soul to the afterlife.”

Here we go again, the fantasy concept of a ‘lost language of weaving’, something that can only makea knowledgeable reader laugh.

To support this talltale spinning franses cites “Images exist of patterned textiles from 9,000 yearsago, and surviving examples go back at least 4,500 years”.

They do?

If so franses should show them instead of pretending they exist.

But we know he can’t because the historical and archaeological record of complex patterned weavingcontains no such examples.

And to boot the simple fact franses, a footnote producing freak, does not cite even one referencemakes his statements appear even more questionable.

“Studying these works of woven art today provides an opportunity to delve into the histories ofmankind, to contemplate both the simplicity and complexity of thought that achieved such intriguingpatterns, to marvel at the glorious creations, and to ponder their meanings”.

These references are far more suited to Joseph Campbell and his mythos and mythologyentertainment than a carpet studies academic paper.

Fact: No positively woven and not painted complex patterned textile images exist from 9,000 yearsago, and there are no extant complex weavings from 4,500 years ago.

There are, however, a few representations of clothing/costume with simple patterns but are theywoven or painted?

No one knows, but RK’s guess is they are painted on and not woven into these cloths.

Regardless there are none with the complexity and nuance of iconography franses is waxing poeticover.

The “glorious creations” to which he refers are thousands of years later.

Enough of the preamble and franses’s fantasy references, let’s get into meat of the matter.

“For the 2011 Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium, I was invited to discuss one carpet from the Qatar’sMuseum of Islamic Art(MIA)….I selected a carpet that embraces diverse cultures, a carpet fromAnatolia depicting mysterious creatures, a work so intriguing that we might never properly understandit.”



This is nothing but superficial, and highly questionable at that, patter.

First, the Doha animalinanimal carpet might or might not have been made in Anatolia. We sincerelydoubt it was as our reasoning below evidences.

One thing is sure: It surely is not like other ancient examples of Anatolian carpet production and itsmaterials, especially what appears to be a goat hair warp, point to a far more probable easternKurdish origin, or perhaps one from western Armenia.

Second, we’d like to know who or what those diverse cultures franses refers to are?

Making such general statements without even providing a shred of evidence bodes poorly for claimsfranses is an important rug scholar.

There is, however, one thing with which we absolutely agree, the statement franses might “neverunderstand” this carpet.

Moving right along franses launches into the alleged discovery of the Doha carpet, and a group ofsimilar animalinanimal rugs, from Tibetan monasteries.

“ It is well known that rugs had traveled along the ancient Silk Road since Roman times: in the earlytwentieth century Sir Aurel Stein discovered pile carpet fragments preserved in the deserts of CentralAsia (http://ipd.bl.uk).”.

While both of these statement are true they are meaningless here since none of the fragments AurielStein, or any other archaeologist, has discovered on the Silk Route look anything like the animalinanimal carpets franses is discussing.

“The caravan routes of the Silk Road also passed the Buddhist monasteries of Greater Tibet, whoseculture spread far beyond the presentday boundaries of the Tibet administrative region of China.Chinese emperors and dignitaries would visit and take retreat in the Himalayan monasteries, andtravelers would bring as gifts a wealth of silk and textiles, the currency of the Silk Road (Watt andWardwell 1997). Thus, over a period of 2,000 years, these monasteries became some of the greatesttreasure houses of the world.”

This also is true; however not one animalin animal carpet, any fragment, or even a scrap of one, canbe positively proven to have come from a Tibetan monastery. Plus the fact no other “Anatolian”carpet of any kind has come from a Tibetan source makes franses’s position moot.

Trying to prove the unproven idea any of the animalinanimal carpets came from Tibet, fransescontinues:

“ After the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959, and particularly during the Cultural Revolution in thelate 1960s and early 1970s, most of the physical evidence of the culture of ancient Tibet wasdeliberately and systematically destroyed. The monasteries were torn down or put to secular uses.The art objects that they had preserved for centuries were largely burnt, defaced, or stolen, althoughthe monks did manage to hide some. Others survived because a practical purpose was found forthem: the enormous Yuan period tapestrywoven mandala in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NewYork (1992.54), for example, was reportedly being used in the 1970s as a ceiling canopy in a grainmill, in what was originally a small monastery. A number of monastic treasures were also publiclydistributed to local residents, with the admonition that these were their possessions, in essencestolen from them by the monks during centuries of predation. Some of the recipients chopped up thetextiles they were given and put them to use, while others stored them away. ”

It’s hard to believe but this barely circumstantial evidence is presented to support the following:

“ The dealer Jeremy Pine related an account of an incident that took place in the 1970s at the Potala



Palace in Lhasa. A large group of old carpets, which had been folded up for centuries and in somecases were worn or damaged, were gathered together from a storeroom by Chinese troops.Theywere loaded onto three lorries (one carpet alone is said to have required eight men to lift it) anddumped into a nearby river. A Tibetan fisherman managed by chance to catch one fragment and tookit home. Some years later he moved to Kathmandu and discovered that it was part of an extremelyrare twelfth or thirteenthcentury carpet from Anatolia (see pl. 236b). ”

Citing this gossip in an academic presentation is comedy, considering it ‘evidence’ even worse.

RK has met and knows Jeremy Pine.

Frankly, we would not trust his telling us it is raining without our looking out the window.

Mr Pine is an inveterate story teller and franses a fool to believe such a story as well as an academicclown to present it in a paper, even one read before an audience of school children, which this onesurely wasn’t.

“ Between 1959 and 1990, many thousands of Tibetans left their country in fear of persecution. Oftenreliant on aid from international organizations to support themselves, these refugees consequentlysold off the treasures they had acquired or saved from the monasteries. These included severalcarpets and textiles, among them masterpieces of textile art from Spain in the west to China in theeast, some dating back more than 2,000 years. ”

Again, more less than convincing circumstantial evidence for a case sherlock franses is trying to buildto justify the unproven story these the animalinanimal rugs came from Tibet. A story that isimpossible to believe when carefully examined.

It is far more likely the Doha animalinanimal carpet, and the others of this group, came fromunknown repositories in Anatolia or elsewhere and were clandestinely taken to Tibet for sale to washand remove their previous history.

And, in fact, were they illegally removed from Anatolia you can be sure this would kick up a mass oftrouble were the truth to become known.

“ The MIA Anatolian Animal CarpetBefore it was acquired by a previous owner in Kathmandu, Nepal, the MIA animal carpet hadreportedly been in a Tibetan monastery.”

Reading all the above, and more we did not quote, it becomes obvious franses’s hearsay referencesto a Tibetan monastery source were to make the above seem logical and true.

However, even a cursory examination proves his ‘theory’ extremely unlikely.

You see, franses was twice involved with the sale of the Doha animalinanimal rug.

The first time from Ebberhart Hermann, who had recently purchased it from ms Holmes, to HeinrichKirchheim. And the second time from Kirchheim to Doha.

So, obviously, franses has a lot invested in that talltale Tibetan monastery story.

Let’s examine it a little more.

Reportedly these rugs were found in Tibet, might we ask by who, where and when?

Guaranteed these answers will never be known and this ‘theory’ is as questionable as finding ancientrugs floating in Tibetan rivers, which by the way was the first story we heard about where and howthe animalinanimal rugs were originally discovered.



Then, franses spins the presence of “yakbutter wax” on the Doha carpet as more evidence.

But this, too, is specious because there is no way to tell when “yakbutter wax” got on the carpets,particularly since, according to franses, “yakbutter wax” is still in use in Tibet monasteries.

Leaving the far from proven provenance of the Doha animalinanimal carpet behind franses thenbegins his analysis of its iconography.

“ Looking at this extraordinary carpet, one is immediately fascinated by the abstracted animal formsthat fill the center. The patterns embrace aspects of Islamic art as well as iconography derived fromearlier traditions and show how the peoples of the Islamic world adopted and adapted symbols. Weare confronted by creatures within creatures, possibly symbolizing fertility, or perhaps by mythologicalbeasts, summoned to carry the soul to the afterlife. These strange creatures are probably ancienttotemic symbols that can be traced back to some of the oldest civilizations of the ancient Near East. ”

This might sound believable to someone without any knowledge of the subject, but once again theearliest archaeological and historical records contain not one example of animalsinanimals, andglibly calling them “ancient totemic symbols that can be traced back to the oldest civilizations of theancient Near East” equally as undocumented and dubious.

We’d like to see franses provide even one reference to such animalsinanimals in the iconography ofthe “oldest civilizations of the ancient Near East”.

This is just spinning more fantasy, it’s surely not scholarship.

“The carpet clearly tells a story, of which there have been many interpretations, but here I will merelyattempt to shed light on its rarity and significance.”

Since this carpet was discovered and entered the market RK has not read any such interpretations,nor do we believe any story it might or might not have told will ever be uncovered.

More franses fantasy spinning.

In trying to explain why the Doha carpet had been cut into six sections, which by the way is the typicalsize carpets are cut into by thieves who steal from Anatolian mosques so they can hide their stolengoods in their pants before leaving, franses offers the following, again to try and support his Tibetstory.

“The fact that it had been divided at some point (in this case into four sections of equal size) wastypical of the many thousands of textiles that arrived in London from Nepal between 1970 and 2000.”

And what about franses’s thinking it “…quite remarkable is that they all survived and remainedtogether.”?

This is easily explainable, and surely not remarkable, if they were, as RK believes, stolen from anAnatolian repository or one in Armenia.

“In March 1993, the carpet was exhibited at the European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, where it waspurchased by Mr. and Mrs. Heinrich Kirchheim, private collectors from Stuttgart. ”

Actually this is a lie, as Kirchheim purchased the carpet weeks before the Maastrict Fair and thenreadily agreed to the charade of pretending it was sold at the fair.

Also this is rather disingenuous since franses was involved in the sale and were he an honest brokerof information he would have revealed such a significant fact.

“The carpet remained in the Kirchheim Family Collection until February 1998, when it was acquired



by the MIA.”

This is true but, again, since franses was intimately involved in this sale as well honest reportingwould again suggest he reveal his role.

His paper then goes on to discuss “A Brief Background to Early Carpets A full historical survey of oriental carpets in general, and of those with animal designs in particular,would need to start at the very beginning. The first surviving carpets were made more than 4,500years ago. Over the past thirty years, the subject has advanced in quantum leaps with the continuingdiscovery of so many knotted pile carpets made 1,600 to 2,800 years ago from Central Asia, Persia,and China, making it a topic of ongoing research that is not ready for publication at this stage.”

Really, “So many knotted pile carpet made 1,600 – 2,800 years ago”?

Where pray tell are they? What do they look like? Upon what evidence are they so dated?

These are pertinent questions franses glides over with even scratching the surface.

Again this is not academic scholarship by any means.

“I will therefore start some 1,300 years ago, with the discovery of the oldest complete, or almostcomplete, carpet from the Near East, which was reportedly found in Fustat, former capital of Egyptand now part of Old Cairo. The Fustat lion rug (pl. 232), carbondated in 1983 to 580–920, waspurchased by Mrs. McCoy Jones in 1987 for the Fine Arts Museums, San Francisco. ”

“Fustat lion rug”; deYoung Museum collection; San Francisco, California; donation MrsCaroline Mc Coy Jones

RK knows this rug well, as we were in franses’s home/office on Castellain Road in London the day itarrived.

In fact, we helped him open the shipping box while he was recounting the story of how he purchasedit from a restorer, who by the way he did not name.

From that beginning, and since, we have seriously questioned franses’s ‘theory’ where it was madeand actually how old it is.

Our seeing it with franses was several years before he and cathrine aka ‘where’s my commission’cootner convinced Mrs. Caroline Jones to purchase it.

By the way, during that time span, franses tried (unsuccessfully) to interest many other museums and



collectors in the rug. However, when none of them expressed any interest to own it he finally wasable to pawn it off on an unsuspecting and trusting Caroline McCoy Jones with cootner’s help.

The rug is exceeding ugly, its damage unsightly, and its design far from elegant or evocative.

And colorwise, the muddy ghostly and ghastly coloration might as well be stirpped off and it this iswhy it looks far better in a black and white photo.

Once more franses does not reveal his former ownership of the rug or involvement in its sale to thedeYoung Museum. Nor his many efforts to find other buyers, which in this case is meaningful asobviously no one else thought the rug important enough to purchase.

“Since there are no other early carpets related either in design or color for which the place ofproduction or the culture of the weavers is certain, this rug could have been made almost anywhere,though it was probably made in the Near East, possibly in Anatolia.”

RK definitely agrees with the first part of the above sentence but definitely part company over thesecond – franses’s idea it was “possibly made in Anatolia”.

We don’t know where it was made but we do know where it wasn’t and that's Anatolia or anywherenearby. There is not one iota of evidence for an Anatolian provenance and franses’s theory, onceagain, is improbable to the max.

“Following the Fustat rug, there is a gap of 200 to 400 years before the next Anatolian carpets thatsurvive in a sufficiently intact state for the design to be discernable.”

If franses is talking about Anatolian carpets with animals, and trying to relate the “Fustat rug” to them,he is barking up the wrong tree as none of the known animal rugs in any regard even slightlyresemble it.

Actually franses should be ashamed to picture such a questionable weaving like the “Fustat rug” inthis paper and then not reveal his having owed it. We are amazed at his hubris and belief suchhistory is not germane.

Next up is a discussion of Dr. Richard Ettinghausen and Kurt Erdmann’s dating of Anatolian animalrugs based on those recognized in early European paintings.

This is old hat and franses adds nothing to what has been known for many decades.

And the one single painting which looks like the animalinanimal rugs is not truly a match, as fransesdutifully for a change notes, because it “… has a different arrangement of these motifs from all thesurviving examples.”

He also mentions the Lamm fragements, which were found in Fustat.

RK knows these well, as we examined them in person when we published the Weaving Art Museumexhibition, which can be read here: http://weavingartmuseum.org/Pages_ex4/cult_kelim_introduction.html

None of them relate in any way to the Doha rug and mentioning them is nothing but namedropping.

Jumping to the socalled Seljuk carpets franses gives a brief history of their discovery butunfortunately in doing so adds nothing to the discussion, as singly or en mass they have nothing incommon with the Doha animalinanimal rug or the others of its group.

The Seljuk connection franses is trying to establish is to bona fide the unbelievably questionable linkthe fragment below has with them.



Carpet fragment sold by Jeremy Pine to Kirchheim

Even more tenuous is the idea it is ‘evidence’ for the early Anatolian carpet and Tibetan Monastery‘theory’ franses keeps trying to prove and one that is unquestionably the main subject of this paper.

Again this is a carpet (fragment) with no proven provenance, but it surely is one without any of theSeljuk association franses, Pine and others have suggested. Just seeing the poorly rendered andhardly recognizable ‘kufic’ script style border should be enough to put to sleep any such association.

Moving into the subject of the animalinanimal rug group franses begins with “The Cagan AnimalRug The first Anatolian animal rug discovered in Kathmandu in the 1980s was found by Fred Cagan (pl.240). A Buddhist monk had reportedly saved it from a Tibetan mon astery. In 1990, the Cagan rug,which probably dates from the late fourteenth century (again, the early carbon14 result should beconsidered unreliable until the carpet has been retested), was purchased by the MetropolitanMuseum.”

This is the rug on the cover, one RK has stated for two decades and more is most likely an Afsharmade in NorthWest Persia in the 16th century.

It most assuredly is not Anatolian or like any other early Anatolian rug, forget any of the animal rugs,which are Anatolian.

Obviously, we do not believe for one minute it is 14th century, as the C14 dating claims, nor that it isan Anatolian weaving.

Colorwise, structurally, and iconographically it is far more like an Afshar than any Anatolian rug wehave ever seen.

Also, it displays a more stiff and boring rendering of the iconography found on the other animalinanimal rugs published in franses’s paper.

It is telling franses’s claim a Buddhist monk “reportedly saved it from a Tibetan monastery” has notone shred of evidence behind it, other than more undocumented hearsay. Frankly, it is not believableat all and RK cannot shake the thought all of them were stolen from somewhere else and thensmuggled to Tibet for sale.

And his citing dan walker’s, the former head of the Met’s Islamic Department who championed thisrug’s purchase, statement the Cagan animal rug is related to the “…famous Marby birdandtree rugin Stockholm and the Bode dragonandphoenix rug in Berlin” is more patter, as there is absolutely no



resemblance iconographically or materially.

And, by the way, after seeing the Marby rug several times in person RK doesn’t for a minute believe itis an Anatolian product.

We’d far more guess it was produced in Scandinavia and not in Anatolia, or even in the Near East.

Its materials, colors and weave, particularly the fact it has rows of knots on the reverse, have led usto that conclusion.

Also the stiff, lifeless drawing is unlike the animated style early Anatolian weavers were always ableto impart to their weavings.

The next of the animalinanimal rugs franses illustrates and discusses are the “Three Carpets withAbstracted Animal Motifs Another early rug has remained an exciting curiosity since it was discovered in Tibet in the 1980s: thesocalled “Faces” carpet, carbondated to 1042–1218, which was first published in 1992 (Herrmann1992, pl. 1), and immediately acquired by the Kirchheims (pl. 237). ”

Detail, “Faces” carpet, Kirchheim Collection

Actually soon after RK saw this rug with Lisbet Holmes, long before Hermann bought and illustratedit, we tried to convince dan walker to purchase one of the halves for the Met, as we had plans to sellthe other half to a collector we knew.

But walker poohpoohed the idea and instead went on to purchase for the Met the complete butboring ‘Afshar’/Cagan rug from Ms Holmes.

The “Faces” rug is an iconographic oddity, a oneoff, unlike any other carpet we know.

Also it doesn't really belong in this discussion as its tiny, Turkmen looking often double headed,animals have nothing in common with the other animal rugs, and surely nothing in common with theDoha carpet.

Dropping the possibility, as franses does, that this rug is Kurdish because of its many offset knots is



again specious.

First because offset knotting is used by many weaving groups, not exclusively Kurdish ones. And,secondly, all its other characteristics color, materials and iconography – bear no relation to anyKurdish rug we know.

More than likely, the “Faces” rug was produced in the Armenian region of the lower Caucasus, aguess also made in Kirchheim’s book where the rug is illustrated as plate 218.

The presence of two color, white and brown, Splied zspun warps and dyed red weft fit well with thisprovenance.

To which we’d like to add the unmistakable resemblance the two complete large portraits with theirdistinctive hairstyles/caps have with early, provincial, Christian/Copt iconography.

No doubt this further complicates determining the “Faces” rug’s origin but it does further our ideas anAnatolian one is far from accurate.

Consistent and serious overdating is another weak spot in franses’s career and it exists here as well.His suggestion the Zuber/von Bode rug, shown below, might be 14th century is highly improbable, ifnot impossible.

The East Berlin Museum, aka Zuber, rug franses dates as possibly 14th or 15th century andsays is “probably Kurdish”; Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin

The iconography, although unique, has not a trace of 14th century detailing but more than likelyplaces this rug firmly in the 16th century at the earliest.

Also ideas it is Kurdish are equally misplaced, as its coloration and materials are much more similarto weaving from the Caucasian/Shirvan area than anywhere in Kurdistan.

Plus calling it an “animal” rug, regardless of the fact it does display some animal heads and what canbe seen as larger abstract animals, adds nothing to the discussion.



However, the same cannot be said about the Hecksher “Faces” fragment, shown below, that is verysimilar, but also very different, than the “Faces” Rug.

Detail, Faces rug fragment; collection George and Marie Hecksher

For many years RK has been trying to determine which might be the earlier and presently we are ofthe opinion they are quite contemporary, as each shows archaic features and ones we see as later.

The border of the Hecksher fragment is quite outstanding and when it is closely examined its primitivedrawing style nevertheless conveys a sophistication and originality we sincerely doubt can beconsidered as later than the considerably larger “Faces” rug.

Hecksher’s fragment’s coloration and materials also point to the same Armenian/Caucasianprovenance, one that might suggest it is an archetype ‘Karabagh’ rug.

The wool quality, the twocolor S plied warps, the strong primary colors and large size knots allsuggest such a guess might not be far off the mark.

“A Specific Group of Early Anatolian Animal Carpets” signals franses is finally going to discuss theDoha animalinanimal carpet and its group.

“What makes the MIA and Cagan carpets of special interest is that they form part of a small but verydefinite group of five survivors sharing many similar characteristics (pls. 240–44).The other three –the Genoa, Pine, and Kirchheim carpets – also emerged from Tibetan monasteries and appeared onthe market in Kathmandu between 1985 and 2000.”



The group of five animalinanimal rugs that have absolutely no proof they came from Tibetanmonasteries

RK has made our feeling about a Tibetan monastery source for any animalinanimal rug quite wellknown and we do not need to reiterate.

But we do need to make clear the plain and simple fact these five animal rugs are so, so, similar ithighly discounts that probability. It far more establishes a scenario these carpets had beensequestered elsewhere and then taken to Tibet to hide their true origin.

Was it from Anatolia, which is a very large region with many backwater locations that still today arelittle known. Or Armenia or North Western Persia where the same conditions existed.

On the other hand while there are many isolated and inaccessible areas of Tibet their being so farfrom the rug producing areas of the Near East, where undoubtedly these five animal rugs wereproduced, and their very inaccessibility, discounts the chances five such rare(and totally unknownuntil recently) early animal carpets could have ended up there.

Surely anything is possible but probabilities almost totally are against that having happened.

“Together with the examples with more abstracted creatures discussed immediately above, theserepresent one of the greatest discoveries in the history of carpets since Martin came across the “EarlyKonya” carpets in 1905 and Rudenko (1970) discovered the Pazyryk carpet (carbondated to 383–200 bce) in the Altai Mountains of Siberia in 1947.”

This statement, though it reeks of hyperbole, does hold some water solely for reason these five rugraise as many questions as the discoveries of Martin and Rudenko have.

However, unlike them, these animalinanimal rugs have no reliable discovery information orprovenance.



“These early Anatolian animal carpets from Tibet partially fill the huge gap between the “Early Konya”carpets made about 800 years ago and carpets of the type most famously represented by the Bodedragonandphoenix rug, made about 500 years ago (see pl. 250d). Carpets of this intervening periodwere a prime area of study for Kurt Erdmann, who was excluded from the storerooms of the Museumof Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul even though he taught at the university there for many years.In 1957 he wrote Der Turkische Teppich des 15. Jahrhunderts, and examination of his notes sometwenty years later revealed his fascination for the lost carpets of the fourteenth century. Sadly theother great scholar of Turkish carpets, May Beattie, also died before these treasures from Tibet cameto light, and Charles Ellis only caught a glimpse of them in his final years. Thus these and otherrecent finds have prompted the almost complete rewriting of this part of carpet history.”

It would have been interesting to hear Beattie and Ellis’s take on these animal rugs, one RK can helpbut think might not have been as enthusiastic as franses’s and more in line with RK.

Now don’t get us wrong, we appreciate the rarity and historic importance to carpet studies the animalinanimal group lends.

But we strongly doubt they have rewritten carpet history; are as early as franses believes; weremade in Anatolia; or are directly related to the animal rugs seen in certain 13th – 15th century Italianfrescos and paintings.

In his discussion of the similarities and the differences the animals on these five carpets displayfranses opines:

“The cord hanging from the mouths of the inner creatures of the MIA carpet should be noted, as wellas the necklace that also appears on some of the Cagan and Genoa animals (bringing to mind thenecklaces on samitewoven silks from China, Sogdiana, Persia, and the Byzantine empire).”

Those “necklaces” on the “samitewoven silks” are actually, in the prototypical examples, wings thatthe earliest representations of such animals originally possessed.

We sincerely doubt the “cord” hanging from the mouths of the Doha carpet’s creatures have anythingto do with the “samite” textiles .

The “necklaces”, on the other hand, the Cagan and Genoa carpets display could be related but, quitehonestly, we question whether or not a very narrow striped line below the animal’s head can be calleda “necklace” or represent the flowing, far more realistic, necklaces the samite cloth animals oftenexhibit.



Samite textile showing animal with clearly defined necklace where the part that floats over theanimal’s back is very reminiscent of the wings seen on earlier examples; Al Sabah Collection,Kuwait

Plus none of them show animalsinanimals the prime iconographic element of the Doha rug and itsgroup.

We should mention RK has been long researching this feature and can now document, as therecently uncovered illustrations below show, the original iconography was wings and not a “necklace”.



Two early ceramics which clearly show the original iconography was actually a wing and not anecklace; Left: ceramic vessel, circa 550 BC; Right: ceramic painted amphora, circa 575BC;both on exhibition archaeological museum Crete, Greece

“The border designs give the appearance of floating on top of the field, and the patterns seem to beoverlaid, providing a sense of perspective. The wellconceived spaces between the various patternsand borders lend these carpets a special majesty. ”

As far as RK is concerned none of these animalinanimal rug can compare with the few already wellknown Anatolian examples and they, not the Doha carpet group, demonstrate superior perspectiveand nuance of design.

The Doha rug group appears stiff and one dimensional compared to examples like the Dragon andPhoenix rug in Berlin and the (probably somewhat later) Vakiflar confronted animals rug, both ofwhich franses illustrates.



Left: Berlin Dragon and Phoenix rug; Right: Vakiflar confronted animal rug

These rugs, and not the Doha and its group, are the real Anatolian animal rugs.

We say this not to discount their importance but to put them into proper perspective, something whichfranses’s former financial and emotional investment and involvement with them clearly prevented himfrom doing.

Not content to leave the Tibetan monastery fable alone franses continues spinning it by suggestingthe fragment pictured below, formerly Jeremy Pine’s and sold to Heinrich Kirchheim, is “probablywestern Anatolian”.



Pine’s fragment reportedly taken from the Portola Palace in Lhasa

This, too, is wishful thinking, as these weavings have absolutely no relationship to any knownAnatolian rug, their coloration and materials provide enough evidence to immediately discount thisidea. The same goes for it being Seljuk, it just ain’t even close.

To try and discount the far more likely idea the Doha animalinanimal rug and the others of its groupwere found in Anatolia franses offers up: “Over the past fifty years, Turkish authorities have scouredevery mosque in Anatolia, and so the chances of an unknown example now coming to light areslight.”

This blanket statement is patently false as anyone who knows the ins and outs of the illicit businessof stealing carpets from Anatolian mosques would readily agree.

And while many mosques and other repositories where carpets can be discovered have beeninventoried, there still remains scores if not hundreds which have never been visited by any “Turkishauthority”.

Plus there are numerous private mosques and turbe which likewise have contents unknown.

Also do not forget the possibility these rugs came from northwestern Persia or the large area whichformerly was called Azerbijan. These areas also are little known or canvassed by any authorities.

It’s hard not the imagine the picture franses’s paints as still being the carpet salesman and not theacademic scholar when statements like the following are made about the animalinanimal rug group“Their condition is extraordinarily good in view of their great age. Their pile is evenly worn down to theknots, except for the MIA carpet, of which much of the original pile survives.”

Analyzing these facts it is hard to imagine the Doha carpet was sleeping for centuries with the others.

Why are they so worn and it in far better condition?

Why was it cut into 6 sections and the others not?



RK doesn’t know, nor are we going to playing guessing games, but we do know these are aotherpieces of evidence questioning the Tibetan monastery ‘theory’ franses has staked out.

“I propose that all five of these carpets are from Anatolia. There is no proof for this, apart from theirsimilarity, both in technique and in the nature of the materials used and particular hues of color, tocarpets dating from the late fifteenth century onwards that are attributed to Anatolia, and theirdifferences from carpets assumed to have been made elsewhere. ”

Similarity in technique? Please, the ‘techniques” used to make a carpet are far too general, and farfrom specialized enough, to draw any such conclusion in such a complicated and complex case.

And the “hues of color”?

Not one of these carpets, and RK has seen and examined all of them besides the one Bruschettinifrom Genoa purchased, has the sparkling and highly saturated colors extremely early Anatolian rugsdisplay.

Their coloration is far more like that which many rugs from the Armenian region display.

The following sentence, like others we have quoted, reveals franses penchant to make statementsthat present guesses as fact. And, remarkably, at the end of the quote he even destroys whatevercredibility he was trying to establish.

“Another curiosity is provided by a Sasanian rug recently acquired by the MIA (ca.91.2011) that wascarbondated to 380–600 and shows naturalistic lions depicted on the tapestrywoven sections ateach end. It has technical features more akin to Anatolian carpets than to Persian, although the typeof wool used would seem to be more Persian than Turkish. ”

“Although the type of wool used seems to be more Persian than Anatolian”?

Doesn’t that ring a bell the rug isn’t Anatolian?

It should.

About their dating franses surmises “Bearing these points in mind, it is likely that the MIA, Genoa, andPine rugs are contemporary and probably date to the second half of the fourteenth century. TheKirchheim fragments are possibly the earliest, from the midfourteenth century, and the Cagan rugmight be a little later, from the late fourteenth century. If these datings are correct, then it is likely thatthe rugs arrived in Tibet over a considerable time span.”

After trying so hard to present evidence, none of it more than hearsay, franses is on very thin icedeclaring the age of these carpets or their provenance.

And is 75 years a “considerable time span”? We’d have to say no.

But regardless of all the above, frankly, nothing more is really known about these animalinanimalrugs than what can be seen with ones eyes and felt with ones hands.

They are undoubtedly an important addition to oriental carpet studies; however, they answer noquestions while presenting more than enough evidence to make any knowledgeable reader take mostof what franses says in this paper with the proverbial filled to the brim saltshaker.

In closing we chose to examine one of the last statements franses makes:

“This returns us to the question of where the carpet in the Zahhak miniature was made. Could it havebeen imported from Anatolia to Persia? Or is it not more likely that the inspirations for these Anatoliananimal carpets were in fact Persian, and that these five survivors from Tibetan monasteries were



simply Anatolian interpretations? We probably will never know.”

Here is the miniature and a detail showing the animal in an octagon on what appears to be a carpet inthe foreground.

Left: miniature painting “Zahak consults the physicians at court” from the Shahnama (Book ofkings) by Firdawsi, circa 13301340; Right: Detail showing the carpet with an animal in anoctagon in the foreground of the miniature (note the white arrows pointing to the animal)

In illustrating this miniature painting franses got the title wrong, as the correct title is “Zahak consults



the physicians at court” and not “Zahhak Enthroned”.

There is a miniature with that title in the Freer’s collection but it is a completely different painting doneabout 200 years later, as this caption from their website shows:

“Zahhak Enthroned Ascribed to Mir Zayn alAbidin Iran, Qazvin, Safavid period, ca. 1576–77 Opaquewatercolor, ink, and gold on paper; Lent by the Art and History Collection LTS1995.2.70”.

In the scheme of things this is a small error compared with the blindeyes franses casts trying toequate the animal in the miniature with those on the Doha carpet and the others of its group; oromitting his former involvement with the selling of the Doha animalinanimal carpet and the deYoungMuseum’s “Fustat” rug; or his unproven ‘theory’ those animal carpets came from Tibetanmonasteries..

These are far more serious errors we are sure franses will never have to defend thanks to a completelack of any peer review besides for RK’s comments and critiques.

The miniature shows an animal in an octagon and only the Bruschettini/Genoa single animalinanimal carpet displays this iconographic style.

This is a very significant point, one which franses avoids completely in his efforts to both prove thesecarpets came from Tibet and are Anatolian.

Also the crudely rendered ‘kufic’ style borders the Doha animalinanimal rug and others of the groupdisplay, particularly where compared to the miniature’s carpet, readily discount any possible similardate of production.

In fact this imply hundreds of years separate them.

But these are far less important than the realization even a cursory examination of the animal in theFreer miniature shows it having wings.

Nor does it have anything resembling a necklace” or anything hanging from its mouth, both of whichare aspects of the Doha carpet group strongly suggesting they are later ‘copies’ of the genre ofanimal carpets the Freer miniature illustrates.

Let’s also remember the Freer miniature is dated circa 13301340, and if the animal carpet it showswas new at the time then it surely suggests the dating franses and others have given for the Dohacarpet and the others of its group is very incorrect. They can’t be contemporary.

But it is also possible the animal carpet in front of King Zahak in the Freer miniature is a heirloom thatmight be much older than even he is.

This is, in our opinion, a strong possibility as the animal it portrays looks far more like the ones in theearliest of the silk samite textiles, which are dated between 600800AD.

There are other aspects of the carpet in the miniature that suggest this possibility might not be as farfetched as it seems.

The most significant is the design on the white ground border of the octagon. It looks to be prekufic.

But whatever it represents it is unique, we do not recall ever seeing anything like it.

Drawing analogy between the miniature’s animal carpet and the Doha carpet and its group does notas franses maintains help to provenance them to Anatolia, nor to date them. Nor does it help toexplain them.

Just the opposite, it demonstrates far too important iconographic differences that only help to weaken



and, in the end, disprove the Doha animalinanimal carpet is Anatolian.

Likewise for the possibility the hearsay evidence franses presents to support the found in Tibetanmonastery provenance is accurate or factual.

Author: hpmuller email: [email protected]

Thu, Sep 18th, 2014 10:21:26 PM

RK Replies:

There is little doubt the oriental carpet field has no standards, and in fact hardly anyacademics.

Writers like franses and jon thompson have done little to advance carpet studiesregardless of their ingroup given awards and laudatory acknowledgements.

However, blaming them for the situation is myopic as the blame is far better put onthe shoulders of those involved in collecting and selling these weavings, as well asthe museums where collections exist.

RK has watched with amazement as countless examples of buffoonery anddishonesty have been accepted by rugDUMB with nary a squeal of complaint.

The dennis dodds LACMA ripoff being perhaps the keystone event.

This attitude has allowed michael franses to parade himself as the leading light ofrugDUMB frankly both deserve each other.

What more can RK say.

==============

No, I haven't attended the symposium in 2011.

I have seen the video of his presentation. And no, there are no further references apartfrom those mentioned in the text.

The book was published by Yale University Press but that probably doesn't mean toomuch as regards scientific content given the fact that probably rich Qataris had to pay forit.

No peer review necessary.

It is cheap, just Euro 53 (not bad for 3 kg and 400+ pages). I need to read the otherarticles.

I have recently read with great interest about Iranian "Chinoiserie" in the 14th century andpitied that the author deliberately had omitted Mongolian influence in carpets except afootnote where he quotes certain animal carpets (sic!) and the reference to Ettinghausen(1959), probably difficult to get.

For me, Islamic art is so overwhelmingly present in the Islamic world that I cannot acceptthat especially textile art should not follow some basic principles.

As any great art, Islamic art has adapted and adopted influences of all civilizations whichwere conquered and converted in hundreds of years.

Especially Iranians were and are masters of adapting and adopting foreign cultural

mailto:[email protected]



influences, that became very clear again when reading Kadoi's very nice book.

Franses does not do Qatar or anybody else any favour when concealing that he wasinvolved in the business on these historical pieces.

Of course I would not consider him a "scholar".

In particular his presentation was very unprofessional, not even entertaining.

Anyway, thanks for some background information.

Author: hpmuller email: [email protected]

Thu, Sep 18th, 2014 07:58:39 AM

RK Replies:

Many thanks for your comments and critiques of michael franses's Doha talk.

You pose several questions which can only answered by saying michael franses isnot a scholar and the majority of his publications are flawed.

His major problem being a lack of formal education.

This should not necessarily be an impediment to someone rising on their own toprove capable of scholarly work.

However, in franses's case his overblown ego and erroneous belief he is the leadingvoice of academics in rugDumB prevents him from realizing the truth about his lessthan exemplary, or even more than satisfactory, efforts.

You sound like someone who attended the symposium, is that so?

Also you write like you have the publication. If so are there any references to theraft of undocumented pseudofactoids in his paper you might share with RK andour audience?

We agree with the points you raise except for your idea the Islamic religion's spreadthroughout Anatolia or Persia was so pervasive as to wipe out completely andreplace the former, ancient, pantheistic beliefs of the peoples who lived in isolatedsmall towns, villages and those living in even smaller kinship groups.

RK's position is these types of weavers might, or might not, have been somewhataware of the 'Islamic Revolution' but either way it had little sway over theiriconographic choices when sitting at the loom.

The animal rugs, and especially the 'animalinanimal group' franses tried toprovenance, are impossible to type cast. The expression: "What you see is whatyou get" and the corollary: What cannot be seen, or felt, is merely guesswork is thebyword here.

Regrettably even their recent discovery, and appearance on the scene, whichshould have allowed their provenance to have been properly documented, is nowshrouded in a fantastic tale they came from Tibetan monasteries.

RK sees franses's furthering this fantasy myth, and we are not alone, as the largestand most serious obstacle preventing anyone from taking him seriously andtrusting his, as you remarked, "absurd" opinions.

mailto:[email protected]



We are glad someone, besides yours truly, has enough knowledge and guts topublicly voice objection and criticism. Congratulations.

So thanks again for your post, and we hope you will continue to make your views,no matter how controversial or unwelcome by the majority of rugDumb's sheeple,public.

Hi Jack,

Regardless Franses's amateurish 2011 presentation at the Hamad bin Khalifa symposiumin Doha, the article which has recently appeared in a glossy publication by editors Blairand Bloom which compiles all contributions on "The Object in Islamic Art and Culture"(http://www.amazon.com/GodBeautifulLovesBeautyIslamic/dp/0300196660/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411049337&sr=11&keywords=god+is+beautiful+and+loves+beauty) is remarkable for at least two reasons.

First, when dealing with these animal carpets, in particular the one the Qatari MIA hadpurchased and which, as he explains, was deliberately chosen as topic of his lecture,Franses, when speculating about their presumed Anatolian origin, does not mention theperiod, namely the time following the Mongolian conquest of most of the known world.

Second, Mongolian influence in designing the carpets may in fact be the "unIslamic"depiction of animals. The depiction of the prophet Muhammad and even of his face, orfaces of his companions or those of biblical/Qur'anic figures in early 14th centurymanuscripts typically indicates Mongolian influence, see a recent publication by Kadoi(http://www.amazon.com/IslamicChinoiserieMongolEdinburghStudies/dp/0748635823/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411050764&sr=11&keywords=chinoiserie%2C+iran) which unfortunately omits Mongolian "Chinoiserie" inIranian carpets, something which Franses did not touch at all.

In his 40 minutes or so lecture, Franses absurdly utilizes Achaemenian and Sasanianexamples of animals disregarding the fact that the religion of Islam had changed customsfor hundreds of years in Anatolia, Iran, Central Asia and beyond.

In that regard we need to ask what is actually Islamic in these animal carpets.

Why did he chose apparently "unIslamic" objects at a symposium about the object inIslamic art and culture?

Why did he bother his Muslim audience with historical pictures of animals from preIslamicAchaemenid and Sasanid times?

As regards showcasing the Cagan animal carpet for the article's first page (and not MIA) Iam afraid that the editors may have chosen the more beautiful (since complete) examplein line with the "Islamic" title of the publication.

Franses's references are somewhat hidden in the end of the book where all referencesappear in alphabetical order.

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Michael Franses: An Early Anatolian Animal Carpet and Related Examples reviewed

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