|
Konya is also a
great place to find small bags and smaller textiles. All my friends
there know to watch for these pieces for me, and they've been very good
about it over the years. Imagine my surprise when I walked by a small
shop in a back alley and saw two presynthetic Obruk area weft-float
brocaded needle bags in the window -- just waiting for me! "You buy
these from everybody in Konya except me," the dealer said. "You've never
even come into my shop, so I put these in the window to bring you in."
And he did, and sold them to me. Later I found out "that everyone had
already asked for these two bags and had been refused. He was, he said,
saving them for Saul.
This trip I noticed that both availability and prices on older pieces
had altered. This is probably due to the government crackdown on antique
sales after the Konya mosque robberies. I wasn't shown many old pieces,
and those that I did see were expensive. People are probably a bit
reticent, even with old friends, to crack their trunks just now.
However, I did locate a wonderful Veramin kilim dated 1317 (1899 A.D.)
and did see a 17th century Oushak small medallion carpet and a number of
older central Anatolian kilims (1750- 1820).
Also in Konya I visited a rug garden in Chaldere. This is a sunning
facility for rugs and kilims that have been washed. In this case it was
the largest in Konya province and was operated by an old friend. He went
from being a farmer to being a kilim farmer; instead of planting crops
in his fields, he places wet kilims on top of the earth and turns them
until they're dry. "Kissed by the sun" they call it. No fertilizer
needed, and a great return on one's labor. This is a great way to see a
thousand kilims all opened in one place and under natural light.
I took the train back to Istanbul, a night coach sleeper. It was very,
very comfortable and costs about the price of a midlength taxi ride in
New York City. If you take the train, better take food with you as the
dining car is not open on this train. But the bed is comfortable, with
clean sheets, all the lights work, and the toilet is clean -- not bad at
all, and one sleeps most of the 12 to 14 hour trip anyway.
Istanbul was very interesting this trip. I found that most of my usual
friends were very low on stock -- one man had an almost empty shop --
and everyone was complaining about the lack of business. It was a sharp
shift from the new rug hustle of Alanya and the old rug bustle of Konya.
I visited the Hotel Oran and saw the renovations in progress. This is a
major project, from 30 to 100 rooms with a penthouse apartment on the
top overlooking all of Istanbul, from the Princess Islands to the
Sulimanya mosque. Naturally, this being Turkey, the May opening has been
delayed until September. I'm looking forward to it.
I returned home via Paris and dropped in to see Henri Dumas at the
Gallerie Triff. He's an old Turkey hand, and we've been passing each
other in the bazaar for eight years now. It was about time that I
visited him. I was pleased with the variety and quality of kilims that
he had for sale, and even more impressed with the prices he was offering
to the trade. Might I suggest that you visit him before and after your
Turkey buying trip? Air France allows Apex stop-overs, if you time your
dates right, at no extra charge and you can add the sights of Paris to
your trip.
All in all, the highlights of this trip were the fresh fish in Alanya,
the good rugs in Konya, and the hospitality in Paris. In retrospect, I
feel that the decline in numbers of old pieces is more a result of
increasing numbers of rug shops in Turkey. Five years ago, there were
only a few rug shops on the whole Turkish coast; now there are hundreds.
Konya has doubled its number in seven years. All the shops that carry
semi-antique rugs have diluted the presentation. It is no longer
possible to find warehouses with thousands of older rugs at reasonable
prices. Now in Turkey one finds hundreds of warehouses and depots. It
seems that the deeper we delve into Anatolia and the more we learn about
Turkish business and culture the more time we spend to find less and
less. I can foresee a time in the not too distant future when all we can
find for sale are brand new rugs. But, on the bright side, we did find
some great pieces this trip and got 18 bales for only three weeks work.
|
BACK
