It was not until we ended up together at the International Conference on Central Asian Carpets in Leningrad that we had an opportunity to meet him. In talking about Turkoman rugs at the exhibits and during the papers, we learned that his real love is Baluch rugs. As this Baluch issue was in the planning stages, our new comrade seemed for several reasons to be an interesting candidate for a collector interview.
The collectors we have interviewed previously have been collecting for several years and have developed collections around specific rugs or concepts. We thought it would be interesting to talk with someone who is just starting, someone who began collecting in the slow 1980s, after the peak of 1980-81, and one who was still feeling his way in the rug world.
Dewitt Mallary was raised and now lives in New York, is 37 years old; single, lives with Lisette Fuhs, and is vice president in charge of the advertising services division of Video Monitoring Services of America. He belongs to the yuppie generation with the pluses and minuses attendant on that group. In the '60s he dropped out of college, took part in the peace movement, studied music (flute and alto sax), joined a band which played rock concerts and dance music for high school balls, American Legion halls, and ski resorts in New England. After several years, he decided his musical talent was not as special as Charlie Parker's and returned to New York to make a mainstream living.
Illustration 1. Archaic medallion bagface, fourth quarter 19th century, probably Iran. This is the oldest of the five pieces of this type in the Mallary collection. The pattern elements of the medallion are like those on antique Konya rugs and the secondary gul of Arabachi juvals. The placement of the star/octagons is especially well handled in this piece. "Though extremely worn, this piece has silky wool and good drawing."
Warp: Ivory wool, Z2S
Weft: Dark brown wool, two shoots
Knot: Asymmetric, wool, open left, level warps; horizontal 8.5, vertical 11, 102 knots per square inch.
Colors: DARK BLUE, red?violet, red, white, dark brown
Size: 29"x24"
Sides: Selvedge goat hair, two bundles of two warps each
Upper End: 1/4" plain weave in dark brown
Lower End: 1" weft float patterning
Condition: Fairly good, some corrosion in brown
ORR: What lead you to such a specialized field as information retrieval in public relations advertising?
Mallary: When I came back to New York, I sort of fell into advertising because the agencies were more open about whom they would hire. They did not require some of the qualifications that other businesses did.
ORR: You were from New York originally.
Mallary: Yes, my parents live in New York, but all the other generations are in Massachusetts and Vermont. My grandparents are still living, and their Vermont farm is the family homestead. It is largely through them that I wound up collecting rugs. They have rugs and my great uncle, my grandmother's brother, had been a rug collector. In the 1920s he went around buying rugs and brought them home. A number of those rugs are still in the family. So I was exposed to Oriental rugs as I grew up. My father's brother and my grandmother both went through periods of particular interest in Oriental rugs but never got serious about collecting them. They went to auctions and subscribed to Oriental Rug Review for a time.
ORR: Well, that would have been relatively recently.
Mallary: I know my uncle was receiving it more than five years ago; it may have been my grandmother who gave him the subscription. Actually, the other notable thing is that my grandmother has the premier Vermont book collection that is not in an institution. So collecting has never seemed a strange activity to me.
ORR: One of the things we like to know is what actually got one started on the collecting route.
Mallary: I really started looking seriously at rugs about three years ago and then bought the fIrst one a little less than three years ago. I bought a couple of rugs for the floor, one at a Sotheby's auction when my brother worked there in the book department, but not with the intention of beginning a collection; it was just to have a rug on the floor. I found a book in a discount book store on a rainy afternoon, bought it, read it, and that is when I started collecting.
ORR: Which book was it?
Mallary: I really would rather not say. Do I have to?
ORR: Of course, everyone has read Jacobsen or even his Checkpoints.
Mallary: Well, it wasn't either of those. It was actually Carolyn Bosley.
ORR: Oh, yes. How to get rich....
Mallary: Rugs to Riches, yes, but it was $1. My idea was not to get rich, but I had a couple of rugs and I wanted to learn more about them. From there on it has all been downhill. Edelmann was still operating at that point, and I started going there regularly and to his evening sessions with him or visiting experts. And I started buying books? Mumford, Hawley, Jacobsen, and someone gave me Bennett's Carpets of the World, and as I went to more and more auctions, I got more involved and started needing more advice and more books were bought.
ORR: So you did a lot of looking at auctions and reading books before you started buying.
Mallary: The advantage of Edelmann's was that there was a range of pieces and there were pieces you could actually buy and take apart and learn about without getting in over your head fmancially. So early on I started seeing pieces there and buying one here and another there. But I kept reading, asking questions, and looking at as many pieces as I could. That was one of the advantages of being in New York; there was Sotheby's, Christie's, Edelmann's, and estate auctions at other houses where I could look at rugs.
ORR: Did you join a rug society?
Mallary: I have since joined the New York Rug Society. I didn't find them at first, but I now go faithfully and have been a member for about two years.
ORR: Did you know of The Textile Museum?
Mallary: Yes, I heard of it early on, made inquiries, and went down to one of the rug mornings with a couple of my new purchases in hand. I was encouraged by the response at the meeting. The bookstore is great, and the exhibitions have been good. Unfortunately, I have not had the time to spend in its library I would have liked.
ORR: Have you been to the annual conventions?
Mallary: No, last year it was scheduled on the same days as the auction dates; I do plan to go this fall. I did attend Richard Wright's program on Caucasian rugs and a renovation workshop with David Zahirpour.
ORR: What was in your mind when you bought your first rug?
Mallary: I guess when I was buying rugs for the floor, I was really thinking about rugs as floor covering, not as works of art or having ethnographic significance. I took them for granted.
ORR: When you were buying them instead of broadloom carpeting, was that a conscious choice?
Mallary: Definitely. I didn't even consider having broadloom. I wanted the rug to be attractive - it didn't matter whether it blended with upholstery fabrics, but the rug had to be attractive to my eye. I didn't want it to be too worn out to walk on.
ORR: How do you go about making a decision to buy a rug? Do you make it entirely yourself or does Lisette take part in considering each purchase?
Mallary: Lisette and I share the decisions for the apartment. I make my own decisions as far as the collection is concerned, but I listen to her opinions and advice, and I usually take it. We usually agree on the things we like. It may have taken one or the other of us longer to come around to appreciating a piece, but there are none here that remained in disagreement about.
ORR: Back to your first rug. Do you still have it?
Mallary: The first one was for the floor, and it is a little Karaja I bought at an arcade auction. It's not a bad rug. I'm not disposed to get rid of it.
ORR: But it was not a Hamadan, which is a more typical American first purchase.
Mallary: Yes, but the Hamadan over there (indicating) was a gift and the Pak Bokhara was a gift, too; it was a Christmas present.
ORR: So, you were being pushed and nudged by friends and relatives?
Mallary: Yes, so the curiosity was not all that unpredictable.
ORR: What was your first collector rug and what factors makes it fall into that category?
Mallary: It was a Baluch bag face from an Edelmann auction (Illustration 1). I suppose I started looking at Baluch pieces, which were underrepresented in the literature I had read, prices were cheap enough that I could think seriously about buying them. It had a nice kilim on one side and was whole, the wool was nice. It appealed to me and the price was right.
ORR: Do you think of using it on the floor?
Mallary: Oh, no! I guess it was my notion to use it on a table. I grew up with rugs on tables. After I became interested, I visited my grandparents and saw rugs used in lots of places I hadn't remembered. In my parents house, there were two Baluch pieces I had grown up with, one on a sideboard and another on a table.
ORR: Do you think of yourself as a Baluch collector?
Mallary: Yes, I guess so because, confronted with various types, I would be most curious about the Baluch pieces first but that certainly is not the limit of my interest. Half of my pieces are Turkoman, and I have a few Kurd bag faces. From the sources I have read, my impression is that you don't see nice Baluch pieces every day. The auction houses don't concentrate on Baluch rugs, so you are more likely to see Caucasian rugs than Baluch rugs.
ORR: What specifically appeals to you about Baluch rugs?
Mallary: Well, certainly I don't find them dark and dreary or somber. The palette of good Baluch rugs contains attractive colors. The drawing is nice and they offer a great variety of patterns. I like a range of types and drawing. You don't know what you're going to see next. The wool is wonderful and unlike any other rugs. One additional item which has intrigued me about the Baluch is that their low standing in the social pecking order left them less affected by modern influences until later than other weaving groups. This manifests itself in two ways. First, traditional materials, dyes and wools, were used until much later than among other weavers. Second, because their lifestyle was less interfered with for longer, their traditional design assimilation continues uncomplicated by Western influence further into the 20th century than is the case with other groups.
ORR: Have you concentrated your purchases on old Baluch rugs?
Mallary: I do prefer older colors. I know some of the pieces I have are fine and beautiful and they have synthetic dyes, so I'm not unreasonable on that subject. I don't reject newer pieces out of hand, but I just like the look and colors of older rugs.
ORR: As you buy Baluch rugs, do you think of them as being from Iran or Afghanistan?
Mallary: Not really; that is, not as I look at a piece and deal with it. I may think about such things, but that has no bearing on whether or not I think the rug is nice. Looking at those I have bought, it does appear that I have a preference for the ones from Afghanistan, but it is not a conscious decision.
ORR: You have bought and read a lot of books. What is your reaction to what is in the literature on this group of rugs?
Mallary: What I found was that there was very little written, and even less that was easily obtainable. But I started combing bibliographies and tried to learn what I could. Another advantage of New York is the New York Public Library, so I could use those resources. Early on I was advised that the best books were the ones with the most and best color plates. I would say that was good advice. I got Michael Craycraft's catalog and, when Azadi came out, I got that.
ORR: Why are those the best books? Mallary: They allow you to see quality rugs and to see what they are about. Certainly in doing homework on Baluch rugs, I read the old ORRs and Halis. The literature has been helpful in telling me not to think that I know about the rugs and who made them. I go back and reread the books on a regular basis as I see more and new things.
ORR: I gather there is no particular type of Baluch that appeals to you more than another?
Mallary: Basically, yes, but the Salar Khani bag face (Illustration 2) was an early purchase and I still think it is great; I like the weave. But I would say I have been steering away from Persian designs and toward Baluch designs, or simply toward unusual pieces.
ORR: Why do you have so many archaic medallion bagfaces?
Mallary: Well, there are five of them, two of which are a pair. They're all pieces that individually have something intriguing or different about them. The weaves vary significantly; the weave of the oldest one is significantly different from the others. I've seen other structure types in the same design that I don't have represented here. Obviously, I like the design and it is interesting to see the variations. It still seems to me that more understanding of Baluch rugs could be gleaned from the systematic study of their construction. Even though their fluctuating social organization and the lack of written historical information make it unlikely that specific tribal provenances can be supported, there still may be more that can be learned about general geographical origin and relative age from structural and technical analysis.
ORR: Then you're not buying these to consciously acquire all of the variations to creat a study group of this particular type?
Mallary: No. It's an intriguing idea and, if l had more time and space, it would be an interesting concept to pursue. I appreciate both approaches, the study collection and the acquisition of rugs for an artistic collection, an aesthetic self indulgence. I would say I share that personal dichotomy for collecting.
ORR: Do you know any other Baluch collectors?
Mallary: I am aware of some other collectors, both well known and not so well known; I don't really know them. I haven't had an opportunity to spend time in anyone else's collection.
ORR: Among people who collect Turkoman, Caucasian, or South Persian rugs, there is information which gets shared among them and with the auction houses. Is that true within the circle of Baluch collectors, or its it lonely out there?
Mallary: Well, it's funny. At the New York Rug Society, we heard a speaker discuss Baluch rugs. At most meetings, there are two or three pieces brought for the show-and-tell; but at this meeting everyone brought at least one Baluch rug. In terms of collecting, however, yes, it does seem lonely. Access has been limited and difficult. It is basically true that a lot of rug collectors and enthusiasts still don't want to be bothered with Baluch rugs.
Mallary: Well, there certainly is competition. But even with that, you still can find pieces to buy, and they have not been driven up so high as they have in other areas.
ORR: What is your feeling at an auction like (at the recent) Christie's auction where there were three of you who were interested in the Baluch rugs? Do you know where your competitors are sitting and which pieces they are likely to bid on?
Mallary: I guess generally speaking, if there is someone around whom I expect to be interested, I would like to know where the pieces go. But that is also one of the advantages about being at an auction: you can learn who is buying and what their tastes are. I don't consider it an insult if Jeff Boucher is interested in the same piece that I am.
ORR: Have you read Wegner's articles? He shows many designs and mentions specific names, such as Salar Khani, Yacub Khani, etc. Do those names help you organize your thoughts about a Baluch rug you see at auction?
Mallary: Yes, they help but you have to start focusing on remembering specific aspects of designs, which means you usually will need to see several of a type to begin to think in those terms. But given the knowledge, you would need a lot of faith to believe in such specific ethnographic labels. It's helpful for talking about pieces without pictures, but in terms of evaluating a piece as to whether it has any kind of intriguing form, labels are not so important.
ORR: There have been certain types that have been "hot" for a while. Are you aware that the archaic medallions were one of the hot groups?
Mallary: No, but that explains why one sees so many of them in circulation. There certainly seems to be a disproportionate number of those pieces within Baluch rugs at auction.
ORR: Is it true that everything you have, you have bought at auction?
Mallary: That is not quite so. There are a few specialist dealers from whom I have bought a few pieces, but at least two-thirds have been bought at auction. The reason is mainly that auctions are convenient because I can fit them into my schedule. In the market, the rug dealers I've talked to don't particularly want to be bothered with Baluch pieces or Baluch collectors, so my few forays into the rug market have not produced results. But I am interested in rugs in a broader sense, and so the auction forum is valuable resource on which to spend my time.
At the conclusion of the interview, Mr. Mallary took us on a tour of his apartment, which had rugs on the floor, on the walls, and on the tops of tables. Most of the pieces on the walls were Turkomans and, in fact, one could conclude that Dewitt Mallary is as much a Turkoman enthusiast as a Baluchophile. But there were many more Baluch rugs rolled up, and the centerpiece of the living room was a large Yacub Khani, bought at a recent Christie's auction.
This is a new and young collection from which we selected a representative sampling to illustrate. For a collector who has started so recently, Mr. Mallary has been an astute and fortunate buyer. We feel sure that this is a collection which will become increasingly important.
