Monday, October 5, 2015

Lac Insect Dye in Oriental Rugs


First half 20th Century Mashhad Rug

I came across a recipe for using Lac as a dye in a book from 1907. It helps me to understand things I have observed about Lac without truly understanding. Let us look at the dye Lac as I understand it:

Lac is one of the oldest insect dyes used in Oriental rugs. Mark Whiting in Hali Magazine (Vol. 1. 1978) wrote that the insect dye lac was the principal red dye used in classical Persian carpets. Of 20th century production it is a defining feature of Mashhad rugs.
Lac traditionally was raised in Northern India and is a  resin secreted by the lac insect (Laccifer lacca) upon the smaller branches of trees, including the soapberry, acacia and the fig tree. Lac takes it's name from the word for 100,000 - lahk which refers to the huge number of insects who are needed to make marketable quantities of Lac. Stick lac is when the lac is still on the branch and grain lac is when it has been crushed and washed. 
Use of lac yields a "cool" bluish red rather than the brilliant insect reds in the blue tones that we associate with cochineal. I have had a distinct impression that Lac dyed wool is not as long wearing as madder dyed wool and more prone to breakage. Frankly I assumed that it was akin to the fragility of shellac 88 rpm records that I remembered from my childhood. If you remember if you dropped a vinyl LP it might scratch but it was unlikely to break. Shellac records on the other hand would shatter if dropped. So when I saw the propensity to wear more quickly I assumed it was an attribute of the shellac. But then I found this recipe from 1907:
Lac dyed Mughal Carpet

Lac Red for Wool.

For 40 pounds of goods make a tolerably thick paste of Lac dye and sulphuric acid and allow it to sit for a day. Then take tarter 4 pounds, tin liquor 2 pounds 8 ounces and 3 pounds of the paste. Make a hot bath with sufficient water and enter the goods for ¾ hours; afterwards carefully rinse and dry.
From
Henleys' Twentieth Century Book of Recipes, Formulas and Processes,  edited by Gardner Dexter Hiscox
The Book is also known as:
Henley's twentieth century formulas recipes and processes containing ten thousand selected household and workshop formulas recipes processes and money-saving methods for the practical use of manufacturers mechanics housekeepers and home workers. By Gardner Dexter Hiscox, editor. 

The use of Sulfuric Acid in the dye bath suggests to me that the shorter life of Lac dyed wool may have more to do with the Sulfuric Acid them with the Lac. 

Friday, July 24, 2015

Scot Neal Rug Resolutions Raleigh NC

Scot Neal and his son Timmy are associates of the Academy of Oriental Rugs. Scot was chosen by the Senior Fellows of the Academy in recognition of superior skill and knowledge as well as the broad respect that he commands in the industry. Timmy Neal was recognized at the Academy because even at 6 years old he showed a better grasp of Oriental Rugs then many cleaners 30 or more years older.

Rug Resolutions Oriental Rug Cleaning
Scot Neal
919-744-8620
Raleigh, NC

Monday, June 22, 2015

Hyungbae Korean Rank Badges

Paul Georg Baron von Möllendorff.

This image made me remember an insight into Harold Keshishian as expert and connoisseur.  Two Chinese Rank Badges came up for sale at Sloane’s auction in Bethesda Maryland. The badges had a high estimate well under $2,000 and surged to over $8,000 with Harold winning the lot over a phone bidder.
Everybody wanted to know why Harold would pay so much for the two Chinese Rank badges which delighted Harold to no end. Because as he told me they were not Chinese Rank badges but rather the far more rare Korean Rank badges.

These badges were worn fore and aft as we see in this image of Paul Georg Baron von Möllendorff.  Baron von Möllendorff was born February 17, 1847 in Zehdenick, Prussia and died April 20th, 1901 in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. Baron von Möllendorff  adopted the Sino-Korean name Mok In-dok while he was deputy foreign minister of the kingdom of Korea. He also served as the president of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1896 and 1897.

Baron von Möllendorff was a very important person at the Joseon (Choseon) court. Besides the historical record we can tell by his badge. One crane was a junior official and two cranes signify a senior official. It is often assumed that the ornate and more luxurious badges are the more esteemed but not so. The badges started out simpler and became increasingly more ornate as time passed. So the simplest badges are also the oldest.
Hyungbae Korean Rank Badge


Hyungbae the rank badges are properly called were first used in Korea in the first year of the reign of King Dangjong in 1453. Rank Badges with one or two cranes among the clouds denoted a civilian governed official as opposed to a military rank badge. 

Military Hyungbae Korean Rank Badge
Hyungbae were first used in Korea in the first year of the reign of King Dangjong 1453. I see them as a copy of the Ming Badges but I think they were originally from the Yuan Mongol dynsaty

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Karlsruhe Safavid niche rug, Central Persia or Mashhad?

I was inspired to comment after seeing Francesca Fiorentino's blog

The Niche, the Rug and the Throne


The rug below was labeled "The Karlsruhe 'Salting' niche rug, Qazvin (?), 16th, second half (?)". I do not mean to disagree with her and certainly not to pick on her, I just thought it would be interesting to consider either "Kazvin" or the broader category "Central Persian" that Sotheby's used when this rug passed through their esteemed halls.

Sotheby's"Karlsruhe" Safavid niche rug, Central Persia,
Estimate   1,000,000 — 1,500,000  GBP
 LOT SOLD. 1,161,250 GBP 

Could this rug be from Kazvin or Central Persia?
I have some serious doubts about that possibility. Let us look at Qazvin which is the more common spelling for Kazvin, It is an area that does not produce any significant quantity of rugs and there is no evidence that it ever did. Even Kazvin rugs don't come from Qazvin. The Kazvin rugs that show up in the market were a line of double wefted rugs produced for OCM in Hamadan. Cecil Edwards picked Kazvin because calling them Hamadan would have been too confusing so he picked Kazvin as a trade name since it was not identified with a particular type of rug.
Kazvin creeps in now and then in Classical Rugs and Miniature Painting because Shah Tahmasp set up court there when the Turks dove him out of Tabriz once too often. Just because he was there does not mean that the Royal Workshops were and I will explore that path in with central Persia.4


As you examine the images ask your self if this was village workmanship or even the product of a minor backwater town. Could this rug have been the creation of a great artist who sent a design a great distance. I know today with automobiles and trains and planes it seems close but in 1550 Tabris was over two weeks from Tabriz by caravan and Tabriz to Kashan was over 3 weeks.


Years ago Jon Thompson put forth an idea in his book Carpet Magic which still resonates with me. This is that the resolution of the corners tells us if it was a workshop rug. Examine this image of the corner then ask yourself is it reasonable to suggest that this rug was created without the artists supervision.


Let me suggest something that seems so obvious to me but it seems to escape the experts on Oriental Rugs,
Great Art Comes From Great Artists

Let me also suggest that this quality of rug is produced under the supervision of an Ustad or weaving master and they would have been at the royal workshops where the painter and calligraphers lived and worked.
So how many royal workshops were there in Persia circa 1550? Only three, Tabriz, Shiraz, and the most important in those years the workshop at the court of the Soltan Ibrahim Mirza in Khorasan (Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi, Iran).
But what about the royal workshop at Kashan under Shah Abbas. Over the years I have heard the old chestnut of the Kashan royal workshop in discussions of 16th century Persian Rugs. I find this problematic since these rugs are mid 16th and the Kashan workshop which was for textiles was about 60 years later in the Early 17th Century
.
Why then would rug experts assign 16th century rugs to a workshop that was not established until 17th century?
I do not suggest that these experts were wicked or stupid. I believe that when people do not know much about the past they try to define the past by current realities. In the late 19th century when European scholars began to get interested in rugs among the very best rugs woven in Persia were those of Kashan. So then without a better idea the scholars began to mark things as Kashan (?) or Central Persia (?) and it continues now with Kazvin (?).  I certainly am not blaming Francesca Fiorentino since I am sure if we dig she is citing someone else. It could well be Jon Thompson or Michael Frances. They do great work but both at times seem at least to me to be adventurous in their attributions.


So I firmly believe that these rugs could only come from three places; Mashhad, Shiraz, or Tabriz in the mid-16th century. This design comes from the artists who designed the miniature paintings and none of those artists worked in Central Persia,
Please note in the image immediately above the intertwining of the branches in a manner not normally seen in nature. This is not common in Tabriz or Shiraz but was very common in mashhad in The Evil Years. It is distinctive to one region and one short period of time.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Wendel Swan Chair, Executive Committee ICOC

One of the great collectors and experts is Wendel Swan of Alexandria Virginia. Wendel is ever his own man and that sets him apart. You can love him or not but only a fool would not respect him. I have mentioned him in other articles but it seems like it is time to revisit a man who is friend and teacher. We have not always agreed on many things but as I grow older I respect him all the more.

Michael Buddeberg, Alberto Boralevi, Wendel Swan, Dennis Dodds, Peter Bichler, Anette Granlund
Above we see Wendel with friends at the festivities leading up to the opening of the new Textile Museum in Washington DC. Wendel was part of the heat and soul of the Board of Trustees of the TM that saved the TM from ruin. At one point I believed that the glory days of the TM were long past. There were some very dark days for the Museum. Wendel with Bruce Baganz and others charted a bold course that looks to insure that the best days of the Textile Museum are still to come.


Here we see Wendel with his beautiful and charming wife Diane. The young fellow on the right is Robert Torchia had been a Curator at Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, Florida who wrote some important work on Oriental Rugs.

 
This piece was a very memorable part of the Swan collection. In part because of its beauty and rarity and partially because it sold for multiples of its high estimate at auction. 




Another typical piece from the Swan collection is this bag, Typical in that many authorities consider it best of type. Wendel has great discernment and an eye for color.

Alberto Boralevi, Wendel Swan and Bruce Baganz
Wendel has been deeply involved in making things better in so many ways. As president of the International Hajji Baba Swan was able to heal the rift and reunite the Washington DC area rug clubs. Raising the club to new heights sadly for the club he stepped down to let the group fall into relative irrelevance. But he did so to give him time to rescue the TM and continue the important work of the ICOC.

Robert Pinner and Wendel Swan
Wendel was a great friend and worked for years with the late Robert Pinner on the ICOC the International Conference on Oriental Carpets. The ICOC is the closest thing the field of Oriental Rugs has to a scholarly assembly. It does much to raise he level of scholarship and discourse in the field of Oriental Rugs.

It as a sad day indeed when I received this message from Wendel:

Date:Sun, 21 Nov 2004 15:26:35 -0500
From:"Wendel and Diane Swan"
Subject:Robert Pinner
Dear Friends,

With a sense of deep personal loss, I must report that Robert Pinner 
passed away peacefully at his home in Twickenham last night.

As the founder of ICOC, the co-founder of Hali and as a tireless energy 
behind both until just recently, his influence on the world of carpets 
and textiles has been enormous. Those of us who worked with him became 
infected by his enthusiasm and benefited from his generosity. We also 
endured, from time to time, the wrath of his extraordinarily keen mind. 
 That was his nature. That is why we loved him. We have lost a dear 
friend.

Wendel Swan



One strong defender of Wendel Swan was his friend Harold Keshishian. I remember one time a mutual friend was unkind in a comment about Wendel and Harold firmly put him in his place. I also remember how concerned he was at one point about Wendel's health despite the fact that HK was himself dying.


If someone wanted to meet Wendel San there is no better place then to come to

Wendel R. Swan (USA) Chair, Executive Committee

All of this is my idea and done without Wendel's knowledge or permission. If he finds fault I will correct or delete. Some pictures I had and some borrowed from R. John Howe

Friday, May 15, 2015

Baluchi Rugs: Good Baluch or Great Baluch?

How do we tell the difference between a good Baluch rug and a great Baluch rug? For that matter how do we tell the difference between between a Baluch of acceptable quality and one better suited for a dog's bed?
To help educate I am going to review a Baluch rug from Alberto Boralevi Italy's noted rug scholar. Despite his unparalleled scholarship Alberto deals in great rugs that are modest to moderately priced. What makes them great is his attention to the minor details in addition to the major ones. Alberto sees things most miss.

First of all there is color:


There is an almost magical quality about the color of the best Baluch Rugs. This rug currently for sale on RugRabbit stunned me when I first saw it. We see five colors, Red, White, Green, and Blue. From the madder root we see the orange red of the Guls outlined with a deeper medium madder red or natural white. The field is Aubergine a madder based color. In the Guls we see yellow, brown, dark blue, a light blue and a blue green.
In a Persian workshop rug this level of wear would diminish the rug. But with a rug like this the wear actually gives the rug a three dimensional quality and makes it more interesting. Besides Alberto hails from Italy where color and beauty are judged far greater than condition. By Italian stands this rug is "Near Perfect" :-)

N.B.  from Albero Boralevi:
Dear Barry, yes I am a little embarrassed because you are too much positive in describing me and my rugs. Thank you. I must only add that that the colours of this piece that I still have and I really love for its wool quality are not all natural dyes. The orange yellow is faded if you look at it in the knots and there is a deep green that is very suspicious, but this didn't prevent me to consider it as a very beautiful one.

Alberto is always modest and scrupulously fair. 


This is an up-close sort of rug. The yellow and brown barely show from more than a few feet way. It also speaks to the dyes. The rug appears to be mostly natural dyes. But with that in mind look at the yellow. It is not sun-faded so that tells us that this rug is not from Afghanistan where the natural yellow was isparek. Alberto feels it is a synthetic orange. The range and quality of dyes indicates that the weaver was either incredibly gifted or more likely had the wool dyed by the Jewish dye master in or near Mashhad.


I hope I will not offend Alberto Boralevi when I say this rug does not give up its secrets from across the room. Instead it is under close examination that the magic is apparent. 

This is not just a good Baluch Rug this is  a Great Baluch Rug. (even with a synthetic dye)

Notes on RugRabbit
Alberto Boralevi
Baluch with traces of the original brocaded kilim ends; wool is soft lustrous and very silky. The ground aubergine-brown is corroded giving to the pattern a nice relief effect.Late 19th or early 20th c. 181 x 117 cm.
Ask about this 
price:  price on request (of course!)

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Are most 19th century Kazak Rugs Fake?


In 1828 the Muslim Khajar rulers of the Khanate of Eravan lost their land to the Russians. Between 1828 and 1832 more than 100,000 Armenians moved in and an equal number of Azeri fled south to Persia. The Russian census i.e. the Kameral'noe Opisanie notes that more than 1/3 of all of the villages were abandoned. 


The Armenians wove rugs to survive. Many of the patterns were borrowed from the Azeri weavers. From 1832 on I estimate 90% of all Kazak rugs were Armenian “copies”. Does this mean that 90% of all Kazak rugs are “Fake”.


Such an idea is ludicrous but some people seem to think that way. I suggest that instead the rugs of the Caucasus evolved and the great rugs of Kazak are treasures. 

Friday, May 8, 2015

A good silk rug or is it a great silk Qum?

Recently Academy of Oriental Rugs associate Chris Howell sent me pictures of a rug that he had been called to work on. The rug is very special but how do we judge it.


This rug is a silk Qum and it measures 53.5 " x 86.5 (4 foot 7.5 inches by 7 foot 4.5 inches) which for working purposes we will round to 32 sqare feet.




When we look at the knot count I estimate it to be 624 knots per square inch. Which is a fine rug but not the finest but quite respectable. It is possible I underestimated it but with my poor old eyes I will wait to see if anyone comes up with a better KPSI count. 

So the silk and the knot count tell us this is at least a good silk Qum silk rug but is it a great silk Qum?



This rug is signed but sometimes the signature is significant and all too often the signature is of no consequence and has no effect in value. Fortunately Hamza Kanaan was able to translate it as Qum Mir Mahdi. At first I thought this rug might be by my friend Morteza Mirmehdia so I compared the signatures.



 Based on this I conclude this is not by the master Morteza Mirmehdi. One question is how do I know this is an auhentic Mir-Mehdi of Qum signature? Rather simple with this one since Morteza's daughter showed it to me in his presence on one of my trips to Iran. See my article:

Mirmehdi of Qum at Kish Carpet Festival 2005

So if it is not Mortza Mihmedhi then who? Actually this is not a bad thing. There are two Mirmehdi rug masters in Qum and the other is older and better known so his rugs sell for even more money.  So at this point the question is does this rug appear to be good enough to attributed to the elder Mirmehdi of Qum?


This picture is by far the most important in making the attribution. Please note the roses. Each rose is slightly different. This means instead of a master artist drawing one rose the master drew each rose separately. The artist is paid by the complexity of the design. So what we see in less expensive (less valuable) rugs we see what we call a repeat. A standard medallion Persian rug is a 4 part repeat meaning that each quarter of the rug is the same as the other three. Or as we see in a Turkmen rug where each Gul copies all the others. But not here. What we have is where every facet of the design is custom designed and represents far more work and far more cost in the preparation of design. This can only be achieved under the auspices and supervision of an Ustad or Master.

That being said this is not merely a good silk Qum rug it is a great Silk Qum rug. As such it must not only be judged as a rug but more than that this is clearly a Work of Art.Lacking any other reason and insight I must suggest that this is the work of the master the elder Mirmehdi of Qum and should be valued accordingly. 

I base this on my examination  of the images and the property and condition report of Academy of Oriental Rugs Associate Chris Howell.

Monday, March 23, 2015

How Ali Asghar Kashani came to be called "Stump Ear"

Ali Asghar Kashani a painter who was the father of the Persian Master Āqā Riżā Kāshānī i.e. Reza Abbasi. Ali Asghar was a good artist but he never received the acclaim of his son or as some of his contemporaries.
Ali Asghar, Gooy-o-Chowgun 
As we can see in this image Ali Asghar painted in a less refined almost provincial style. The rocky hill dominates the field in the style of Shiraz with the man mostly hidden behind it. This was a shortcut used by Shirazi painters to save time. Additionally the plants springing from under rocks is also do in the Shiraz style. I Shiraz the plant may blossom up or down from the rock while in Tabriz in this time period blossoms go up not down. This piece is clearly from the reign of Shah Tahmasp but the polo player is neither a prince nor a Kizilbash. If this were in the Tabriz style the riders turban would have a Red Taj possible with royal feathers and the horses bridal might also have been decorated. 


Besides fathering Aqa Riza he is perhaps best remembered for a salacious and outrageous scandal which rocked the Persian court. Shah Tahmasp availed himself with the sexual pleasure of beardless boys. His favorite boy-toy was the son of the Court Surgeon. This in itself was quite normal and not a scandal in that place and time. What really cause the problem was that Ali Asghar fell madly in love with the Shah’s Cup Bearer and attempted to run off to India with him. Being an exceptional artist forging the seal of Shah Tahmasp was no great difficulty. Off Ali Asghar the boy and another artist fled towards the Mughal Border. Even with the forged letter of Transit they were caught and returned to face the wrath of an angry Shah. Tahmasp allowed the boy’s father to choose the punishment. The sentence was loss of his nose and both ears. I have often wondered if the father a surgeon preformed the amputations personally. It came to pass that Ali Asghar’s nickname was “stump ear”.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

A Smoking (Hot) Princess Muhammad Qasim circa 1635

In this 17th century Persian Miniature from the Isfahan style I was struck by the detail and intricacy of the woman's undergarments (her shalvar). It hearkens to the style of Riza-i Abassi but it lacks the gritty realism of Riza-i Abassi  and lacks his fascination with sashes and folds.

Persian Princess Smoking circa 1635 by Muhammad Qasim 1575-1659. of the Isfahan School,

This painting is attributed to Muhammad Qasim and since there is a signature I assume it is his. However it is so obviously in his style that the signature is not crucial. Take for instance the princess's breasts:

We can see the Princess's cleavage. Muhammad Qasim showed a greater fascination with female breasts than was common in Safavid painting up to that point. Take for instance Lot 119  Sale 7751 A Seated Ruler in a Landscape Signed Muhammad Qasim Isfahan Iran Circa 1640, Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds London, King Street, 6 October 2009. We see a very similar woman with a bare breast. In fact it is entirely possible that it is the same woman in both pictures.


The Smoking Princess is from the Isfahan school under Riza-i Abassi but it lacks his refinement of style. Take the pipe for instance: 

Now contrast it with a pipe in Nashmi the Archer, Harvard Art Museum 1960.197 gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (Nelson Rockefeller's mother), Signed by Riza 'Abbasi, Dated: 25 February 1622.


Aqa Riza has a much better command of the minor details but Muhammad Qasim seems to portray the woman in much the same way that artists portrayed the beardless boys of the Evil Years. That is to say as an object of desire.

We can see this in how Muhammad Qasim portrays the lower extremities:

Compare the feet of Nashmi the Archer certainly a harsher view of reality.

I also have to note the drawings on the bottle by Princess Muhammadwith the face on the pipe by Aqa Riza:


Aqa Riza is counted by most experts to be the greater artist. In fact may count him as one of the greatest of all Persian painters. But so despite the admiration I have for his technical excellence I prefer Muhammad Qasim. Count that as my vote for joy.

Why do I choose call the work The Smoking Princess when no one else does? the two feathers in her headdress are a traditional sign of royalty from Mongol times up and into the Safavid Dynasty. I think that not calling her a princess is an oversight.





Tuesday, March 10, 2015

A Question of Provenance

A Question of Provenance
OrWhy Harry Truman called James Mark “Uncle Jimmy” Keshishian a “Son Of A Bitch”

November 16th to December 30th 1949 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Shah of Iran visited the United States and visited President Harry S. Truman.

On that trip the Shah presented Truman with a magnificent Isfahan carpet of great size and beauty.

To get a sense of the size of this Isfahan Persian Carpet compare it to the picture below using the desk for scale. I figure this rug was no smaller then 12 by 18 and perhaps larger.



This rug was more than just a simple gift. Harry Truman loved that rug and took great joy in it. He used to talk about that rug: Truman is remembered for comments such as; “Old Mossadeghfound out that the Shah had given me the rug, and he was burned up.

Or from the New York Sun:


In 1957 Harry Truman opened the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum as his presidential library and what was to become his final resting place. Truman loved that Library and the museum was a very important part of his life. He was usually the first person to open the door and often the last person to leave at night. He even answered the phone and shocked visitors when he would give them directions to “His Library”. Now his rug was the first thing you saw when you came in the front door. So needless to say Ole Harry loved that rug.
So in 1958 Harry Truman took it very personally when the IRS under Republican President Dwight Eisenhower audited his return and disputed the $150,000 tax deduction that Truman took on the Shah’s rug that he donated to the museum. The Internal Revenue Service knew this was a high profile and potentially explosive audit. The Republicans wanted blood and while Harry Truman was at a low point in his popularity he was still an ex-President. There was only one appraiser in the country they trusted with a job this explosive. They called Mark Keshishian of Mark Keshishian & Sons, Chevy Chase Maryland America’s senior Oriental Rug Appraiser expert.

One small problem the rug was in Independence Missouri and Mark Keshishian was scared of flying. Mark took the job but not the flight so he sent his son Jim  (James Mark “Uncle Jimmy” Keshishian

So off Jim flew to Independence Missouri where he carefully examined the rug. President Truman personally showed the rug to Jim and made it very clear that he as the former President and Leader of the Free World considered the rug to be worth $150,000.

The problem was as Jim told his Dad that night it was a very nice $15,000 rug and that was ten cents on the dollar of President Truman's Income Tax deduction. Mark Keshishian thought a moment and said, "Jim if I owned the rug or if you owned the rug it is a $15,000 but you aren't the Shah of Iran and I am not the President. You are forgetting PROVENANCE." With that Jim declared the rug worth $75,000. Because obviously a rug owned by a Shah and a President was worth more than that same rug would be worth with any ordinary owner.

So quite proud of his compromise Uncle Jimmy Keshishian explained to the President the next day that he was appraising the rug at $75,000. Truman was furious and looked Uncle Jimmy in the eye and called him "You Son of a Bitch". That is Truman for you.

I heard this story first hand from Uncle Jimmy Keshishian when I was helping him write the Chapter on Oriental Rug Valuation in the 3rd edition of Property Valuation Strategies in Divorce Proceedings. I could be a bit off on the exact figures since it has been a few years but I checked with Jim's son Mark Samson Keshishian a top Oriental Rug appraiser in his own right and a Senior Fellow of the Academy of Oriental Rugs and this is what we remembered.

Bill Clinton's Underwear and Donating Oriental Rugs

Bill Clinton's Underwear and Donating Oriental Rugs

Bill Clinton's Underwear

In 2006 the IRS tightened up the guidelines on the donation of household and personal property over the so-called Bill Clinton Underwear Incident:


The new guidelines are tighter but not terrible:



What this means is that if you are donating an Oriental Rug or Textile you can deduct whatever you can get it appraised for within reason. What is reasonable can and will be determined by the IRS so as my Dad used to say never take a deduction that you can not explain with a straight face.

I am not an Accountant and this should not be seen as nor taken as Tax Advice.