While London and the UK bask in sunshine, The Oriental Rug Centre in London is receiving wonderful new stock of Persian carpets, rugs and runners, as well as some beautiful new kilims. So if you can tear yourself away from the world cup, please feel free to call us at David J Wilkins Oriental Rugs, and make an appointment to view the vast selection of handmade oriental rugs and carpets at Staples corner London NW2 7TS. www.orientalrugexperts.com London's Chiswick Auctions are delighted to announce its next specialist sale of Islamic & Indian Art including Fine Rugs & Carpets, taking place on 11th July 2018. The summer sale offers an exciting curated selection of arts of the Qajar era (1794-1925), as well as fine rugs and carpets, showcasing the richness and variety of Persian artistic production during the 19th century. One of the sale highlights is an extremely rare pair of cut silk velvet panels woven in Kashan, Persia circa 1840s. United since the day they left the loom, the pair reached the elegant home of a London-based collector in the early 1990s through the hands of one of Mayfair's most experienced textile connoisseurs. Crafted using the purest natural dyes, with a central diamond-shaped white medallion on a clear red ground, with stylized white tulips in the boarder, and green dashes along the selvedge end, the pair is a sublime illustration of the Velvet Revolution during the Qajar era. The Islamic Art and Florence from the Medici to the 20th Century exhibition, will be held from June 19th-September 23rd 2018, at the Uffizi and the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence. Between the 15th and early 17th century, a wealth of Islamic works of art from around the Mediterranean found their way to Florence, and this exhibition sheds light on this artistic exchange and its 19th century revival, drawing on the city's vast collections, augmented by some key loans. A number of rarely displayed carpets and textiles are among the highlights.

David J.Wilkins Oriental Rugs London are pleased to announce, that we are now open for business on Sundays. This has been long in the planning, and we hope it will be an added opportunity for busy people to come to the Oriental Rug Centre at London NW2 7TS, and view the massive stock of handmade, Persian, Afghan, Indian, Moroccan and many other rugs and carpets, which we source from all over the world. We would kindly ask people to make an appointment for Sunday viewing's to avoid delays. The Manhattan Art & Antiques Centre, will be holding an auction on 12th June 2018, featuring property from the estate of Jane N. Rothschild. More than one hundred lots of the estate are offered including Persian rugs and textiles. Parisian auctioneers Gros & Delettrez are pleased to announce the sale 'Orientalisme' to be held at Hotel Drouot, Paris on 25th June 2018, including important North African and Central African textiles as well as embroideries, carpets and other weaving's. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry series, from the Musee de Cluny in Paris, are being shown in Sydney Australia at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, for an exhibition that lasts until the 24 June 2018. www.orientalrugexperts.com  

For the first 40 years of its existence, circumstances prevented the Carpet Museum of Iran from revealing its treasures to the world. However this year, a major exhibition has brought this beautiful Museum back to life. On 11th February 1978, the Carpet Museum of Iran was inaugurated, a testament to the Persian heritage and skilled carpet weaving it has long been famous for. But by the end of the museums first anniversary the Iranian revolution was in full swing. In the intervening years successive museum directors had little room for action, and certainly had no opportunity to organise large exhibitions. Practically nothing would change in the display year to year. So we were pleased to hear that the current directors have decided to put the museum back on the international map where it belongs. Forty year on, a special exhibition titled Forty Safavid Relics, The 40th Anniversary of the Carpet Museum of Iran. In Vienna the Dorotheum is holding a special sale of Oriental carpets and rugs from the Abil Besim Collection on Thursday 19th June 2018. Abil Besim was one of the Austrian Capital's leading firm's of carpet dealers and was established in 1946. Here in London we are finalizing the Sunday opening of the Oriental Rug Centre at Staples Corner, and will bring you news as soon as possible. www.orientalrugexperts.com  

We have a number of Oriental rug and carpet auctions to look forward to this Spring/Summer. Bruun Rasmussen, Copenhagen, will hold four auctions from 29th May to 8th June 2018, and will feature a number of fine Asian rugs as well as classical oriental rugs and carpets, with a few antique Russian and some modern designer rugs. Highlights include a 16th-17th century Ushak fragment, and a rare heptagonal Yomut Turkman Asmalyk, a highly decorative Persian Heriz carpet and an important Caucasian Moghan long rug. Other lots to note include a historical Persian Isfahan Nader Shah rug, a Qing-dynasty silk and metal thread dragon rug, a Barbro Nilsson Snackorna flatweave rug and last but not least a Russian Shirvan rug depicting the family of the Tsar. Rippon Boswell will hold a Major Spring sale on 2nd June 2018. The sale will feature 225 lots covering a wide variety of good quality 18th-20th century Oriental rugs and carpets. Henry's of Mutterstadt, Germany, will hold its sale of Collector Rugs & Carpets on June 9th 2018, and will include lots and pieces from a private collection previously published by Eberhart Herrmann. These include Shahsavan bagfaces, Caucasian pieces and a rare Luri gabbeh. There is a good selection of Persian town rugs and carpets, with some pictorial pieces such as Kashan form the master weaver Javad Tabatabai with the story of Bahram Gur and the Shepard. And also in the news is that the 14th International Conference on Oriental Carpets (ICOC XIV) will come to Washington, DC from 7-11 June 2018 in collaboration with, and in support of, the Textile Museum and George Washington University Museum.  

A very good day was had at the London salerooms. Bonhams in New Bond held its Oriental classical-period carpet sale, on Thursday 26th April 2018. Many of the carpets were fresh to the international market, but with some well known pieces making a return. First up was a large-medallion Turkish Ushak carpet of the second half of the 16th century (lot 95). Formerly in the collection of ambassador Ghazi Aita, it was last sold at Christie's in London in October 2001 for £135,750, it sold within estimate for £181,250, one of the highest prices ever paid at auction for an Ushak carpet of this design type. In the afternoon, the final selection of Christie's 'Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds' at King Street featured a trio of previously unknown Ushak Lotto arabesque carpets, consigned by an Italian noble family descendants from a number of cardinals and Pope Alexander VII (d.1667), from whom the family may have inherited the rugs. All three performed considerably better than might have been expected. The first, lot 258, a Lotto carpet in good condition, was estimated at £40-60,000, but was vigorously competed up to £187,500. The next lot 259, was an early 17th century Transylvanian type of Lotto, estimated at £30-40,000, it was purchased in the UK for £60,000. The top carpet at Christie's was lot 295, a large Persian Safavid Isfahan gallery carpet. This great carpet of the Braganza type, was estimated at £80-120,000, and after a fierce bidding war, sold for £248,750. Across the channel, Artcurial's Antiquities, Islamic & Pre-Columbian Art auction, will be held in Paris on Tuesday 22nd May 2018, the sale offers a selection of Persian Malayer, Bakhtiari, Qum and senneh rugs and carpets, among them a fine Qajar period silk carpet depicting an Annunciation scene.

Christie's forthcoming sale of Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, will be held in London on the 26th April 2018. featuring a selection of 70 Oriental rugs & carpets from the past five centuries, highlighting the various weaving centres within the Islamic world, form Spain to China. Highlights include a magnificently coloured 17th century Persian Safavid gallery carpet; a group of three Ottoman 'Lotto' rugs reputedly received as a diplomatic gift from Pope Alexander VII; the iconic 17th century Barbieri 'Compartment and Tree' Persian Khorasan carpet formerly in the Orient Stars collection; a finley woven silk and metal-thread Koum Kapi rug amd a number of elegant Persian Qajar town carpets from the workshops of Persia's master weavers, including an impressive Kirman gallery carpet woven by Mir' Ali Kermani.

Skinners's of Boston are holding there Fine Oriental Rug & Carpet sale on the 30th April 2018. It includes more than 40 pieces from the Rabinovic Collection of 18th and early 19th century Anatolian village rugs. Also in the sale is a collection of central Asian embroideries including an early Tekke wedding trapping, a complete 17th century Chinese carpet, and some excellent 19th century Caucasian rugs, with many 19th century Persian city weave rugs and carpets in excellent condition. Here in London the Oriental Rug Centre has received a new shipment of Afghan Chob Rang rugs and carpets, and is expecting a large shipment of Persian Overdyed carpets at the end of the month. www.orientalrugexperts.com

London's Bonhams is hosting the Design Sale on 25th April 2018. The sale includes an exceptional 16th century Ushak medallion rug, previously forming part of the Aita collection, with an estimate of £150,000-£200,000. Meanwhile in other parts of the world, The Rug Show at High Point Market, North Carolina, will showcase the latest in handmade contemporary rugs, The High Point Market show has doubled its size in only its second outing. Back home the Oriental Rug Centre London is eagerly waiting for the new shipment of rugs and carpets from Afghanistan, David J.Wilkins Oriental Rug Experts London, say's that the shipment includes some exciting new designs as well as the more traditional, but it will be first come first serve, so be quick to make your appointment to view these beautiful new rug and carpets. Tel: 0207 722 7608 www.orientalrugexperts.com

The ICOC have announced that the 14th International Conference on Oriental Carpets will be held in Washington DC from 7th-10th June 2018. The conference will be held in collaboration with the Textile Museum and the George Washington University Museum. Academic sessions on Friday and Saturday will include sessions on Central Asian rugs and textiles as well as modern trend in carpet and textile scholarship, new attributions, carpet discoveries and carpet and textile collecting. The exhibitions will include ikats from the Guido Goldman collection, Central Asian carpets and textiles, costumes of Chinese minorities and much more. www.orientalrugexperts.com

Rug and carpet weaving in China can be traced back to the early Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). Excavations in western China have yielded relatively intact coarse pile rugs, The next surviving rugs and carpets are those commissioned by the Ming emperors for the Forbidden City palaces, and woven in Beijing (Peking). Outside of these two groups there are numerous Chinese rugs and carpets woven for the home and export markets, including pieces from Ningxia, Beijing and Mongolian. But now the tide is turning on the emerging Chinese carpet market, and this huge country is fast becoming an important consumer of fine Persian rugs and carpets both antique, vintage and new. At first the market was solely for very fine Persian carpets predominantly made from silk or wool and silk mix, but some dealers are developing a trade for antique Persian tribal and nomadic rugs, and the Chinese public seem fascinated by there history and story that exists behind each rug. Many of the western Oriental rugs dealers will be exhibiting at China's (Qinghai) International Carpet Exhibition in Xining in June 2018, which is the country's largest rug fair. London's Persian rug dealers are looking forward to tapping in to China's new found interest in the Persian carpet. At David J.Wilkins Oriental Rug Experts, they have seen a marked increase in enquirers from Chinese tourist visiting London. Also at London's Oriental Rug Centre we have received a new shipment of fine Persian Loribaft rugs, which have amazing colours. Tel: 0207 722 7608 www.orientalrugexperts.com