American Heritage has, over the past several decades, published a series of lavishly illustrated books on the history of the United States of America. Each installment came as a two-volume set, one dealing with a certain period of U. S. history and the other with the antiques and decorative arts of that same period. As a part of this series, The American Heritage History of Antiques from the Civil War to World War I was published in 1969 and reprinted in 1979. Figure 228 on page 176 of this volume is a black and white photograph captioned, "Turkish arm chair with rug upholstery." The rug upholstery appeared to be from an extremely rare group of piled asmalyks, distinctive for their "bird" design, thought to be woven by the Tekke tribe of Turkomans. The photo credit for Figure 228 indicated that the chair and its fragment were in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. It was Nicky Eltz, a Eugene, Oregon, antique rug dealer, who brought the book and its amazing photograph to our attention. Nicky telephoned me one evening asking if I was aware of this book. I was able to tell Nicky that I had the book on a shelf directly over the telephone, and what page should I turn to. That a published photograph of such a rare piece could go undiscovered for nearly 25 years is amazing, particularly in view of the wide circulation of this book. We contacted the Smithsonian and, after sifting through layer upon layer of institutional bureaucracy, we were finally put in touch with Rodris Roth, curator of the Division of Domestic Life, who had most immediate custody over the chair. Ms. Roth was gracious in responding to our inquiries, making the chair available at our request for inspection by Pat Fiske, who was then director of The Textile Museum, and later by Charles Grant Ellis, a few of whose comments we present below. We published a black and white photograph of the front of the chair in October, 1982. We followed up with more photographs of other aspects of the chair in November, 1983, again in black and white. The photographs presented here are, to our knowledge, the first published in color of the chair.

Turkoman Studies I, published in 1980, listed 12 known pieces in this group, with roughly half in Russian collections. The fragment pictured in Figure 228 would be the 13th known, provided no more have come to light since 1980. The fragment's design on the front of the chair is known thus far only on asmalyks, and it is thought not to have been woven in other forms, such as main carpets. The scale of the fragment's design on the front of the chair suggested to some who saw the photograph that this could be a main carpet fragment. This speculation was based on the belief that, unless the chair were a miniature, the pieces covering the chair were of a scale too large to be from an asmalyk. Indeed, they may even be consistent with the scale of fragments from a main carpet. That balloon was punctured by Ms. Fiske who, after inspecting the chair, told us, "Rodris Roth showed me the chair. Though not a miniature, it is of a size and shape that would require nothing larger than an asmalyk to cover it. Indeed, the fragment that covers the back could be nothing but the shaped upper portion of an asmalyk." Ms. Roth provided the following information regarding the chair's provenance. "The chair has a history of ownership in Baltimore

The chair as it appeared in the American Heritage volume and as it appeared in our first reportage.

Left Right side of the chair Right Left side of the chair

"The first point which struck me about this was the implication of (the chair) being found in this particular book. Collectors are a varied lot, and well represented among them, I suspect, is a group of persons who are primarily hunters. Finding the quarry is what provides most of the gratification. In this instance, finding it skinned, dressed, and pictured in a book is gratification enough. It is all the more tantalizing to realize that the illustration had been sitting, apparently unnoticed, in this well known volume, all through the furious Turkoman decade.

The chair itself makes a commentary on the phenomenon of collecting. Collectors are, they hope, connoisseurs as well as hunters. Certainly the piece that was used to cover this chair would be avidly sought, should it appear on today's market, even as a fragment. Presumably, its great attractiveness would arise out of considerations of beauty. Yet, about 100 years ago, little enough was thought of the piece that it was chopped into upholstery fabric; clearly the resultant chair was the important thing and the thing of beauty. Ironically, most of those who have seen the photograph think the chair to be quite homely. It may be that having isolated those persons who are excited about the bird/lattice/rug aspects of the matter, we have virtually exhausted the potential for interest in this chair. So it is with art, fashion, and furniture."

Also of a philosophical bent were the comments of the late Mark Treece:

Only too recently the hoarding of objects typified the attitudes of dealers and collectors alike. However, the appealing response elicited by this charming chair's discovery shows that we have moved far beyond in our attitudes towards "things." Owning is no longer the statement of one's worth or esteem, but knowledge is.

The Tekke bird chair discoverer, Nicky Eltz (left) listens to a rug story related by Bertram Frauenknecht at ICOC, Vienna

Taking that for implied concent in this post-Ellis era we offer two letters that relate to the Smithsonian "bird-asmalyk chair.

Ron O'Callaghan
Editor

Having just returned from about two months in Europe, I find your photographic print of the chair with the bird pattern Turkoman upholstery, and your request for comments. Also the pertinent issue in which you brought up the matter and printed some comments.

The chair certainly looks like something I should interview when I find myself in Washington, if I can only remember to. (I find that my memory has gotten very poor indeed in such matters. Perhaps I would need strings on three fingers.) I would expect to start out by tackling (there is an image to conjure) Rita Adrosko, Curator of Textiles in the big building on the Mall. I don't think I know Rodris Roth. You may be quite right in thinking it buried under early Tiahuanaco birds' nests. Or has it been excavated by now?

My trip was highly enjoyable after I left Vienna (not feeling sufficiently up to par to enjoy Sam Gordon adequately), the hyped-up sale at Sotheby's one particular high point. Venice is marvelous, never mind the rugs!

With best wishes

Charlie

Charles Grant Ellis
Research Associate
(Textile Museum)

Pictured above are two other chairs with the Tekke bird chair which were not acquired by the Smithsonian

Dear. Ron,

I have just returned from a trip to Washington, during which I had a look at your Tekke bird asmalyk chair, along with slides of two others which they did not accept. Miss Roth told me that she had sent you Xeroxes showing the asmalyk piece from all angles. It seemed to have been well dyed except that its use as upholstery has caused it to fade variably to the degree that different elements have been exposed directly to strong light. It could stand a good shampoo, which I doubt they care to risk. The chair may be associated with an 1851 gift in Russia.

The second chair was upholstered with a Tekke juval, or more likely a pair of them -- not too startling. The third was a hotchpotch with a Shahsevan donkey bag on the back, with diagonal band pattern; elements of a normal Turkoman tent band on the arms and around the front. There was something that looked like a piece of a Hamadan with design in concentric rectangles above the seat, which had more Persian rug with an ivory square containing an octagon. I am not sufficiently expert on Persian late 19c minor weaves to comment further.

Surprisingly there has been no request from anyone other than myself (and Pat Fiske) to look at it so far. Miss Roth might be receptive to one or two additional approaches, but I doubt if she would want a lot of people asking. She and Miss Adrosko were very gracious on my flrst visit to their lair in many years.

Best wishes,
Sincerely,

Charlie

C.G. Ellis

Charles Grant Ellis (right) with his old friend Alberto Boralevi of Florence, Italy in the ORR hospitality suite at ICOC V, in Vienna