Meeting Announcement:

From Sagdak to Salor: Design Traditions of Central Asia

with

Jürg Rageth

at

Pioneer Hall

1642 43^rd Avenue East, Seattle

In the Madison Park neighborhood

Monday, March 3, 2008, 6:30 PM

This presentation will cast some new light on the origins of Central Asian (Turkmen) carpet design in general, and on the tradition and continuity of Salor carpet design in particular. Using as examples a number of pre-10th century Central Asian textile designs, partly from real Central Asian textiles, partly from textile representations on Central Asian (Sogdian) wall paintings, and comparing them with Salor carpet designs from Central Asia from ca. 1500-1900, a design tradition and continuity over a period of clearly more than 1,000 years has become evident. This continuing tradition will be elucidated with evidence, which is not only based on art historical research, but is also supported by results from AMS radiocarbon dating and HPLC dye analyses.

By approaching historical developments of Turko-Iranian Central Asian design traditions over roughly the past two millennia, this talk will also demonstrate a successful pairing of art history and the natural sciences.

Jürg Rageth is an independent Oriental carpet and textile researcher, based in Riehen, Switzerland. He has been involved with radiocarbon dating since 1995 and has published several articles on this subject. This presentation to STARS represents part of his recent work for a forthcoming publication on Turkmen carpets of Central Asia. As the head of the Basel rug society “Freunde des Orientteppichs”, he was the organizer of several carpet and textile symposia, which have been published under his imprint.

Meeting Schedule:

6:30 Mix and mingle. Announcements.

7:00 Jurg Rageth: From Sagdak to Salor – Design Traditions of Central Asia

8:00 Show and tell – Please bring a rug or textile to share with the group. Turkmen pieces would be especially interesting, though Mr. Rageth is also an expert on Turkish kilims.

Please note: This meeting is free to members, $5 at the door for guests.

Meeting Location and Directions:

Pioneer Hall is the home of the Pioneer Association of the State of Washington. See the map below. Parking is available on nearby streets.

From I-5 or 405, take 520 toward the University of Washington. From the Eastside, exit at Lake Washington Blvd and turn left off the bridge and right into the Arboretum. From I-5, take the first exit from 520, Montlake Boulevard. Go straight through the light, following the main road until you take a right into the Arboretum. Go through the Arboretum, turning left at the light, at Madison Street. Go about a mile, and turn right on E. Blaine Street. Go two blocks. Pioneer Hall is straight ahead.