The gala opening the evening of September 19 was for the participants in the 16th conference of the Centre International d'Etude des Textiles Anciens (CIETA), an international, professional association of curators, scholars, and dealers of weaving and textiles. The opening was hosted by M. Pierre Arizzoli-Clementel, chief conservator of the museum and president of CIETA.

As this is the first time in many decades that rugs in this collection have been exhibited, the occasion was a special treat for the CIETA members. It is an exhibition which rug scholars and collectors should not miss. The rugs on exhibition are from the 16th through the 18th centuries. All major rug weaving areas are represented, although Turkish and Persian rugs predominate.

Upon entering the galleries on the fifth floor of the Musée in the Palais du Louvre, one encounters a spectacular Star Ushak carpet on a floor riser. Although a rare variant of this pattern, it is the intensity of the red and blue which are dazzling even in the 50 light candle illumination of the exhibit. Other types of Turkish rugs are a Large Medallion Ushak carpet with a red field covered with small blue dots instead of the usual vinery; a Small Pattern Holbein; a Konya fragment of a rare type with repeating palmette cartouches; a 16th or 17th century central or eastern Anatolian rug with a design which survives in 19th century Caucasian rugs as the shield pattern; a 16th century Lotto rug; a Cairene Ottoman rug, circa 1600; a Bellini prayer rug; and a double-niche Transylvanian with a egg yolk yellow field.

The Persian rugs are equally rare examples of their types. Perhaps one of the most notable is a fragmented carpet of the Sanguszko type. The field represents about half of the original carpet and is filled with horsemen hunting gazelles, leopards, and other beasts amid trees filled with birds. At the bottom of the field are visible the heads and shoulders of men, above whom phoenixes encircle the upper limbs of a tree which at one time must have been at the center of the carpet's composition. Clearly a story (or stories) is being told here, as in many Persian textiles from the same 17th century period. This rug has never been published previously.

Other Persian carpets include a 16th century Garden of Paradise carpet fragment with a design of cypresses, flowering trees, and stalking animals; a Salting carpet with medallion; a fragment of a Kashan carpet belonging to the same group as the silk rugs [ of astounding quality -- George, this modifier followed New York in your original text. Is it intended to modify the group of silk rugs or the Kashan carpet at the Musée? ] recently exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum in New York; a fragment of a Chahar Bagh garden design carpet with a soft yet intense palette; a palmette and arabesque rug of the 17th century belonging to a group attributed by some scholars to India; and a 17th century Kirman vase carpet fragment of a rare type. A part of the same carpet belongs to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and is published in Charles Grant Ellis' catalog as plate 54. (One wonders if the PMA will bestir itself to put its fragment on exhibit for the ICOC.)

India, the Caucasus, China, and Turkestan are represented by one piece each, but these were among the highlights for me. The small Moghul rug from the 17th century is near perfection in design, color, condition, and weave. It has 9000 knots/dm2! It has a lattice design with small flowers within each of the lozenges and was woven in pashm, the finest Kashmir wool, and silk.

The so-called classical Shield carpets of the Caucasus are usually well-known, if rarely seen by collectors. The Musée des Arts décoratifs' fragmented example has to be the finest and best expression of this group. The range of colors is beyond anything one associates with Caucasian weaving, as is the fineness of the knotting. It was a piece I found myself returning to often.

On an adjacent wall was a Chinese carpet fragment with a pattern of lotus flowers. It is from a very rare group of weavings. Another fragment of this type from the Rutherford collection was exhibited in the Pacific Collections exhibition in San Francisco; see Eiland, plate 1.

The sole Turkoman rug, a Yomud asmalyk, is one of the greatest of all Turkoman weavings. It is monumental in scale and in near perfect condition. The pattern of seven ascending flowering plants is unique. It is surprising to learn that this is one of the most recent gifts to the museum, having been donated in 1968. Given the darkness of the palette and dirty condition, the true brilliance of this rug is greatly obscured. The exhibition is accompanied by a small catalog, Tapis d'Orient du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle, written by Susan Day, a consultant to the museum. Seven of the exhibited pieces are presented in color: the Garden of Paradise carpet (cover), the Chahar Bagh fragment, the Sanguszko carpet, the Yomud asmalyk, the Caucasian Shield carpet, the medallion Ushak, and the "shield" design Anatolian rug. The catalog contains an informative text, in French, on aspects of the carpets exhibited. It includes a full technical analysis and description of each piece which are especially informative and an important contribution. As many of these rugs and carpets have never before been published, everyone interested in classical carpets will want to add this modest catalog of 12 pages to his library.

M. Arizzoli-Clementel has only recently become the conservateur general, chargé des musées of the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs. One welcomes his appointment as it will mean some changes for the exhibition of decorative arts in France. He was previously Director of the Lyon Musée Historique des Tissue and so comes to the job with a feeling and understanding for rugs and textiles. He revitalized that institution and surely will bring the same energy to his new job.

For too long the rug and textile collections in France have largely been unknown and unknowable to carpet and textile specialists around the world. This has been particularly true at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs where Nadine Gasc, head textile and rug curator, has tended her task more as the Cerberus of the collection than as facilitator. She is due to retire in the next few months, and it cannot be too soon. This exhibition portends new times at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and one looks forward to more exhibitions, publications, and greater accessibility of the collections in the future under M. Arizzoli-Clementel's direction. In the meantime, I urge anyone visiting Paris who is at all interested in weaving to experience this exhibition.