Tag Archives: carpets

Happy Thanksgiving, and Black Friday Deals!

From all of us here at Persian Gallery New York, we wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!  Of course, as Thanksgiving ends (or even before!), Black Friday begins, with shoppers getting major discounts on all types of products both in store and online.  We are proud to announce that we now have more items than ever before on sale, and available for purchase online, through the following portals:

PGNY on 1st Dibs:

https://www.1stdibs.com/dealers/persian-gallery-new-york

Currently on sale at 1st Dibs, we have a number of vintage decorative pillows, a variety of small size and room size antique oriental rugs and decorative carpets, many antique and period tapestries, and numerous other rugs and textiles in larger sizes.  Shopping cart available for immediate purchase, and some of the discounts have to be seen to be believed!

PGNY on One Kings Lane:

https://www.onekingslane.com/shop/pgny

Currently on sale on One Kings Lane is a unique pair of vintage decorative tapestry pillows, available with shopping cart for immediate purchase, at a price that’s almost too low to print!

The PGNY Outlet:

http://www.pgny.com/outlet

Our own hand-picked selection of antique, semi-antique, and vintage rugs, runners, textiles, and more, available in store with outrageous discounts!  Browse through the selection online, then contact us by e-mail or phone for availability, and to set up an in store viewing, or let us arrange shipping directly to you!

Check these three bargain hunter’s oases now, and check back daily for new additions and discounts!  Also, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and more for daily alerts as to what’s on sale, and where, by connecting with us on social media via our links page!

Happy thanksgiving, and have a safe, healthy, and happy Black Friday!  Remember that the best selection of antique decorative carpets, old oriental rugs, period tapestries, and vintage pillows is available with extreme discounts, just a few clicks away!  Happy shopping!

 

PGNY on Instagram, and Our Susan G. Komen Posts for October

Persian Gallery New York is now on Instagram! Follow us and check out our photos:

https://instagram.com/pgny_antique_carpetrugtapestry/  

In this month of October, our first several posts on the ultra-popular social media platform have covered our collaboration with Polo Ralph Lauren, which was detailed in our previous blog post (see this link):

http://pgny.com/blog/persian-gallery-new-yorks-antique-tapestries-appearing-in-the-window-displays-for-polo-ralph-lauren/

as well as calling attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the great work of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.  In honor of Susan G. Komen and their “think pink” hashtag, we’ve posted the images of the following rugs on Instagram throughout the month of October, with the common theme of all of these rugs being their pink accents and color tones.  The images are all collected below, and in several cases, show the beautiful contrast between the iconic pink ribbon of Susan G. Komen with the more masculine, tribal or geometric designs of some of these carpets.  Check out these beautiful rugs, join us on Instagram, and make a donation to Susan G. Komen!

24806 (detail 4) 31676 (detail 4)

28565 (detail 3) 29297 (detail 4)  31696 (detail 5) 31703 (detail 5)

31708 (detail 3)

27080 (detail 5)

31701 (detail 4)

 

Antique Tapestries with Bathing Women, and the Myth of Callisto

In an article featured in the New York Times‘ Art section this past week, the writer details an art exhibition currently taking place in the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris, entitled “La Toilette: The Birth of Privacy.”  The exhibition focuses on the way women’s bathing and toileting rituals have been historically depicted in classical European works of art, and what that reflects about the progression from bathing having been done public to bathing being done in private.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/arts/design/la-toilette-art-show-explores-womens-bathing-rituals-through-history.html?_r=0

The exhibition displays numerous works of art, including many antique tapestries, like this one:

Paris Art Exhibit Tapestry

The exhibition shows how, lacking the modern convenience of indoor plumbing and instant access to water, bathing was something done very seldom, and when done, was done only by the wealthy.  When wealthy women bathed, they were in the company of several attendants and/or ladies in waiting, making what we think of now as a most private of grooming acts a rather communal or public event, and one in which the form of the bathing female was exposed to the eyes of all those around her.  No matter how banal a ritual bathing can be, one can surely see the undercurrent of eroticism and voyeurism in such communal baths of the otherwise hard to access female elite.

This same undercurrent of eroticism and voyeurism can be detected in many classic tales from Greco-Roman mythology, and in particular, the myths chronicled in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.  In many of Ovid’s tales, a female figure pursued by a god or a satyr is transformed into a different form, often involving her contact with or pursuit through a body of water.

Case in point, let’s take a look at the myth of Callisto.  Callisto was one of the female attendants of the goddess of the hunt, Diana (aka- Artemis).  Diana and her attendants would regularly go on hunts of wild animals, and after their hunts, they would all bathe together communally in a nearby stream.  Callisto was one of Diana’s most loyal attendants, and was renowned for her vows of chastity.  As the story goes, Zeus, the king of all the Greco-Roman gods, and father to Diana, was renowned for his wanderlust, and was constantly chasing different women, both goddesses and mortals.  In this myth, Zeus seduces Callisto, and they have a torrid affair.  Soon thereafter, Diana learns of Callisto’s betrayal of her vow of chastity, committed with Diana’s father, Zeus.  She is furious, and after a hunt one day, Callisto’s shame is exposed during the communal bath.

This exact moment is captured in one of our antique tapestries:

http://www.pgny.com/item26032

26032 (pro)

In the moment that is depicted in this tapestry, we see Diana and the other attendants and nymphs exposing the shame of Callisto, not only in the sense of revealing the sordid details of her affair, but also in the physical sense of pointing out and shaming Callisto’s nude form in the midst of what was until then a sorority’s communal bath.  We, the viewers, almost become complicit in the shaming, and we see again the undercurrent of eroticism and voyeurism that is chronicled in the aforementioned exhibit in Paris.

The myth goes on, of course, and Callisto is metamorphosed into a bear by Zeus in a vain attempt to hide away his misdeed from his furious wife, Hera.  Diana, being the huntress, ends up killing the she-bear Callisto during a subsequent hunt, and whether intentionally or unintentionally, slays her former confidante, despite Zeus’ attempts to conceal their affair.  Zeus metamorphoses the dead she-bear Callisto again, sending her into the heavens by transforming her into the constellation Ursa Major, ie- The Great Bear.

What we can take away from this is that the depiction of the bathing female, and the underlying prurience that goes along with it, was not limited to artistic renderings of privileged females in mid-millennium Europe, but is deeply rooted in story-telling that dates back to Ancient Greece.  Concomitant with the renderings of the bathing female is the voyeuristic undercurrent we’ve discussed in this blog post, which can be seen from many different angles and points of view, but also must be seen to exist.

The lovely antique Franco-Flemish tapestry displayed above is an exquisite example of this, and is now available for sale online for the very first time.  You can bring this piece of history home today via Persian Gallery New York‘s store at First Dibs!

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/wall-decorations/tapestry/antique-18th-century-franco-flemish-mythological-tapestry/id-f_2572812/

Happy Holidays from PGNY.com!

Wishing all our clients, colleagues, and friends out there Happy Holidays!  Last weekend saw the beginning of the Passover holiday, as well as Easter.  The Passover holiday concludes this weekend, with tomorrow, Friday 4/10 being part of the holiday, and our showroom being closed in observance.  This Sunday brings Orthodox Easter.  And to round it all out, many schools have been closed this past week for Spring Break, which for beleaguered and overworked student, is truly a holy occasion!  All in all, it’s a week of rest, family togetherness, spirituality, and religious observance.

And for those who religiously observe the happenings in the PGNY Rug Blog, you can find many of our antique oriental rugs and period European tapestries available for sale that will make you say “Holy Moly!

Check out our online offerings of antique Persian and Turkish carpets, antique and period European tapestries, a fine Suzani textile, and some rare vintage pillows on the following sites:

Happy holidays again from all of us here at PGNY.com, and visit us religiously here on the PGNY Rug Blog!

 

PGNY Adding Casino Gambling to Its Antique Rug Showroom!

The area rug industry has been abuzz about all the recent news coming from the showroom of Persian Gallery New York, with our partnerships with both First Dibs and One Kings Lane, but PGNY’s latest announcement is going to be perhaps the biggest news story of the year!

There has been much made in recent months over the attempts by lawmakers in New York to allow casino gambling to be brought to the city, so as to bring in revenue that would otherwise go to the casinos in Atlantic City, Connecticut, Las Vegas, and beyond.  The Resort World Casino (or “racino”) in Queens is a proven money maker, but only offers video slots, and no real table games as in a full, traditional casino, leaving NYC without any true, full scale casino offerings.

Now, Persian Gallery New York is proud to announce that we are branching out beyond our industry-leading inventory of antique oriental rugs, old Persian carpets, and period and antique European tapestries, and expanding our showroom to include a full scale casino, complete with table games!  This is a game-changer if there ever was one!

After much negotiation, the city legislature has given us the rare and distinct privilege of being the first entity to bring casino gambling to mid-town Manhattan, but on the condition that we integrate and incorporate it into our main business, selling the world’s best antique decorative carpets and tapestries.

As such, we have arrived at a mutually agreeable solution; depending on the dollar amounts at stake in the various table games in our new hybrid carpet showroom and casino (“carp-sino”) will put our incredible rugs and tapestries at stake for table game results at given times throughout the day!  You can play Let It Ride, and ride away with a beautiful Tabriz carpet!  You can play Pai Gow, and fly away with an Art Deco Chinese rug!  The possibilities are endless!

Oh, and we must add, APRIL FOOL’S!!!!

We hope you enjoyed this bit of April Fool’s levity, and that you will browse our site for the world’s best selection of antique and vintage decorative carpets, old oriental rugs, and antique tapestries!  Happy holidays to our colleagues, clients, and friends celebrating Easter and Passover!

 

 

Antique European Tapestries – An Essential and Undervalued Art

Last week, we announced that we have formed new partnerships with two online decor sales giants, First Dibs and One Kings Lane, to provide access to select items from our inventory of antique oriental rugs and antique European tapestries to our clients who want to shop online, and can’t necessarily make the trek out to our mid-Manhattan showroom.  Both sites are active, with many lovely vintage pillows currently posted on One Kings Lane, and much more on the way, and many fine old Persian carpets and period European tapestries posted on 1st Dibs.

This announcement was met with enthusiasm by many of our clients and colleagues, who had an especially tough time coming into NYC to visit us during the endless snow storms of this past winter season.  We have had a particularly strong response to our offerings of period and antique European tapestries, of which we have perhaps the biggest and best collection anywhere in the world.

One of our tapestries that has received a significant amount of attention is the palatial Death of Achilles tapestry, woven by Jan Raes, after cartoons by Peter Paul Rubens.  Wait a minute, did I just say a tapestry was made by Rubens?  Wasn’t Rubens an Artist, with a capital A, as in he made important, famous, paintings?  Why would a famous, important European painter be wasting his time making tapestries?  Who cares about tapestries?!?

To put it simply, a lot of people care about tapestries, and especially in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance in Europe, a lot of wealthy, important people cared about tapestries.  Tapestries were actually one of the main signifiers of wealth and power back in those days, much as luxury cars, yachts, and yes, paintings by Renaissance European masters are status symbols today.  Tapestries served multiple purposes, in that they were wall coverings for castles, keeping out drafty cold air and insulating the heat in the room; they were decorative art with historical, religious, mythological, or verdant themes, and they often contained symbols of the coat of arms of whichever king, duke, count, or other royalty possessed them.  They were woven of fine wool and silk, and often had silver, gold, and other metallic threads woven into them, as well, reflecting glints of light to help amplify the illumination in the room.

And because of their expensive, labor-intensive production, only the rich and powerful could afford them.  If you think about it, any large tapestry that would be commissioned would cost tons of money, as you needed to hire not any random weaver, but a famous master weaver to make it (hey, the rich and powerful wanted name brands just as much then as they do now), would have to pay for all the materials he would need (fine wool, silk, and silver and gold threads ain’t cheap), and have them embark on a weaving project that could last several years, depending on the size of the tapestry.  Not days, not weeks, not months, YEARS.  Imagine hiring your favorite fashion designer and asking him to sit in a room and weave something only for you, the way you specifically want it, for multiple years.  Not cheap!  Very expensive!!!  So only the rich and powerful could afford to have them.  Of course, like any highly valuable form of art, knockoffs and cheaper versions came into play in later centuries, but they could never touch the grandeur, the majesty, the complexity, and the beauty of the originals.

So getting back to our friend, Peter Paul Rubens, we ask, what was this famous Artist with a capital A doing making cartoons for a tapestry?  Making money, to be quite frank.  These tapestries were produced by commission, and paid for by wealthy patrons and/or royalty, as detailed above.  And to hire not only a master weaver like Jan Raes, but to have him work off of cartoons (a smaller drawing or “blueprint” which the weaver would work off of in making his tapestry) by a big name like Peter Paul Rubens, already deep into his career and his fame in early 17th century Brussels?  And to have him design not just one piece, but a series of pieces, all to be woven in enormous, palatial sizes with the finest of materials?  We’re talking some BIG BUCKS for good old Mr. Rubens and Mr. Raes.  Rubens drew the cartoon for this piece as part of his series on the Life and Death of Achilles, with our tapestry being the culmination of the series, and perhaps its most important work.

This all begs the question, if Peter Paul Rubens and other famous European Artists with a capital A worked not only on the paintings for which we now know them, but also on tapestries and other popular art forms of their era, why is it that tapestries, which were way more labor-intensive and costly to produce than paintings, are currently valued at so much less than paintings from that era?  If you look at Peter Paul Rubens’ Wikipedia profile, at the very end, it indicates that one of his paintings, the Massacre of the Innocents, sold at auction in 2002 for an astonishing $76.2 million.  Now that’s an Artist with a capital A!  Our masterful Death of Achilles tapestry is currently available for sale online, but at a teeny tiny fraction of that price.

If so much time and costly material went into the making of these fantastic antique tapestries, why don’t they currently enjoy the same cultural cache they once did, and why are they priced infinitessimally low compared to paintings by the same artists of the same era?

I would suggest that’s it’s a combination of factors.  Period tapestries still have more cache in Europe than they do in the U.S., as people there have grown up with them, have seen them in their original historical settings, and generally are more familiar with tapestries than we are here in the States.  Next, the more important tapestries from that era that are still extant (most were destroyed by water or fire) are mostly palatial in size, as they were literally used in palaces and castles.  Most people here either don’t have wall space large enough for these tapestries, and don’t necessarily have knowledge or interest in their weavers or their subjects.  For instance, we all know the name Peter Paul Rubens, mostly because of his paintings, but how many of us know Jan Raes, who actually wove the tapestry?  Paintings tend to be sized in a way that is easier to handle, and throughout the centuries, they have become arguably the most prestigious form of art, eclipsing other traditional forms like sculpture and tapestry, and exploding in value to the point where the most valuable paintings can be sold for upwards of $140 million!  Neither antique tapestries nor antique carpets can say the same, and while exceptional carpets and tapestries may fetch several million on a very good day, there’s still no comparison with what the top paintings will go for.

Proliferation, copies, and knock-offs have also been a help and hindrance, in that copies of paintings have become so ubiquitous that almost everybody can name at least a dozen of the most famous paintings, and probably has a copy or two in their homes.  Tapestries?  Not so much.  There are many reproduction tapestries out there today, and there have been for the last couple of centuries, but they never gained the foothold in the common household that paintings have.

This is what makes it such a great time to buy an antique tapestry, as they are relatively undervalued and underappreciated, and are an interactive, tactile art that you can touch and feel, unlike paintings.  Available for a fraction of the price of similar vintage paintings, antique tapestries can transport you to a world of many centuries ago, when they were woven for the elite, and when they lent a home warmth, beauty, and prestige.  Contact us today at info@pgny.com or shop at our website or our store at First Dibs, to find the perfect antique tapestry to bring warmth, beauty, history, and much more to your home!

Now You Can Buy PGNY’s Antique Rugs and Tapestries Online!

Happy Spring!  Today is March 20th, 2015, the first day of Spring, or as it’s called in Persian culture, Nowrooz (“new day”)!  Happy Spring and Happy Nowrooz to all of you from all of us here at Persian Gallery New York!  Of course, in true New York City fashion, the first day of Spring is accompanied by a significant snow storm, but at least we can hold out hope that it will be the last snow storm of the season, and that warmer weather will quickly follow!

As we shift into the Spring season, and the major holidays of Passover and Easter loom just over the horizon, we’re on the cusp of another season, as well; the Spring Selling Season!  That’s right, in the area rug industry, Spring brings with it many things, not the least of which is a new crop of clients who are ready to shake off their winter blues and start their long-planned redecoration projects.

Traditionally, clients were always advised to start any redesign project with their rugs first, so that the rug’s unique aesthetic and its color combination could dictate the colors and design choices for the rest of the room’s decor.  Nowadays, that rule of thumb has started to fade away, what with the enormity of color and design options available in new rugs, but for the devoted antique rug enthusiasts out there, it’s a guiding principle that will always hold true.

In 2015, though, even those same traditional rug enthusiasts that, come Spring, would always start to scour the rug market for the perfect antique oriental rug have started to shift their behavior.  With the prevalence of online shopping, and the ease of access of finding and buying virtually anything in the world one could want from one’s phone, tablet, or computer, even the most stalwart of antique rug buyers don’t necessarily show up in the showrooms anymore, but would rather do their rug buying from their homes.

While we still have plenty of clients who prefer to come to our showroom and see our antique rugs and tapestries up close and in person, we understand that we do have to try to accommodate those buyers who prefer to shop from home, and to allow for that, we have to make our rugs available for sale online.

As such, we have made new partnerships with two of the leading forces in online decor sales, First Dibs and One Kings Lane!  From here on in, we will be posting numerous antique oriental rugs and period European tapestries on these two websites, where our clients can buy them directly, with just a few clicks of the mouse (or taps of the screen)!  To view all our rugs and tapestries currently for sale on these two sites, follow the links below, which can also always be found on our Links page for future reference:

Of course, you can also still find many of our rugs at discounted prices right here on PGNY.com, in our PGNY Outlet, and while those rugs can’t yet be purchased online, they can be purchased by calling or e-mailing us, or visiting us in our showroom.  As traditionalists, we will always believe that there is nothing like seeing and feeling an oriental rug in person, and that nothing can replace the showroom experience, but today is a new day, a Nowrooz, a Spring forward, and we happily spring forward into this new realm of online sales with First Dibs, with One Kings Lane, and with you!

Putting the New in New Year

py New Year 2015!  Hmmm, how many days into the new year can one still say Happy New Year?  Social etiquette aside, there’s a lot of new in the new year here at Persian Gallery New York!

If you’ve browsed through rug inventory the website recently, you may have noticed the recent addition of a category of New Rugs added to our rug searches!  For the past 40+ years, Persian Gallery New York has focused on providing only the best antique oriental rugs and vintage decorative carpets to the trade, but has never forayed into the ever-expanding world of new rugs.  Now in 2015, PGNY has finally thrown its proverbial hat into the ring of new rugs, and has added a fully searchable category of over 150 unique new rugs to this website, available in a variety of sizes and styles.

Using the left-hand navigation menu, you can browse either exclusively for antique rugs, or just for new rugs.  To consider both antique and new rug options, you can search using the different size categories listed at left, or do a custom search using the Advanced Search tab at the top of the page.  Whichever way you approach it, we are sure you will find an amazing assortment of unique and exciting rugs, from oversize to scatter size, and from wide gallery sizes to narrow runners.

Take a look at the New Rugs section, and browse through the huge array of oversize new rug options listed there.  It’s an eye-popping collection of palace size pieces, and you can view it in detailed close-up views from the comfort of your computer, tablet, or smart phone.

There’s more where that came from, too, as we have added dozens of previously unseen antique rugs to the website, and are in the process of adding many more.

Check the website frequently to catch all the latest offerings as they’re added, and give us your feedback to let us know what you think!  Wishing you all a safe, happy, healthy 2015, and we look forward to helping you find the perfect antique (or new!) rugs for your flooring needs!

Link

New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently holding a major exhibit of antique European tapestries, its third in the last decade.  This exhibit showcases the majestic beauty of the antique tapestry, an art form that in Renaissance Europe was even more prestigious than paintings, which can be argued as being contemporary society’s most highly valued form of two-dimensional art.

The antique tapestry (or period tapestry, as those in the trade call them) is a dazzling art form that marries the intense hand-weaving required for making oriental carpets with the subtle rendering required to delineate faces, moods, shade, and other complex artistic motifs usually associated with painting.  Tapestries were originally used in the castles of Europe’s royalty and the wealthy, both as decorative art and status symbols, but more pragmatically, also as wall coverings to keep the cold out.  Fiberglass insulation wasn’t quite invented yet, so their walls were pretty drafty!

Some of the larger tapestries, including the ones on display in the Met’s exhibit, were made by master weavers, and major artists from other disciplines (ie- Peter Paul Rubens) were also renowned for their magnificent tapestries.  The tapestries would be comprised of wool, silk, silver, gold, and other metallic threads, making them expensive to weave, especially given the difficulty of obtaining and manipulating the materials.  Larger pieces could take years to weave, and were financed by either royalty or by the dukes and lords of the land.

In modern times, tapestries still have prestige, and still have a niche audience, especially in Europe, but in the U.S., it can be argued that they are under-valued and under-appreciated.  The relative prices at auction for paintings as opposed to tapestries is astronomically higher, and antique tapestries get highlighted in museum exhibits only on occasion, as opposed to regularly.  Still and all, as collectors and purveyors of fine period tapestries, we are happy to see this wonderful art form get the exposure and coverage it deserves, and hope the trend increases as time goes on!

For more information about the exhibit at the Met, check out this article from today’s New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/arts/design/grand-design-showcases-pieter-coecke-tapestries-at-the-met.html?emc=edit_th_20141024&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=35177973&_r=0

 

Feedback on the New Site, & Happy Holidays from PGNY.com!

Has it already been two weeks??  Where did the time go?!?  We relaunched PGNY.com two weeks ago on Monday, September 8th, at the beginning of the annual New York area rug industry extravaganza, Metro Market Week, and can’t believe it’s already been two weeks since the relaunch!

We’ve received a great deal of positive feedback about the new and improved PGNY.com, and thank you all for letting us know some of your favorite things about the website’s redesign.  Perhaps the most universal “wow” was for the new photo system, which provides improved image viewing and dramatic zooming capabilities for all the photos on the site.  The second most common remark was that searching for rugs has become easier than ever, due to a refined and simplified search function.  We want to hear more, and look forward to more comments and feedback from you, our PGNY.com viewers and clients.

As part of the relaunch, we are continuously adding more inventory to the website, and should be 100% uploaded soon.  Keep your eyes peeled for many newly added oriental rugs, runners, pillows, and tapestries throughout all sections of the site, as well as several new Style categories to browse through.

Now, without further ado, we want to wish all our friends, family, and clients out there who celebrate Rosh Ha’Shana a happy and healthy new year, and Shana Tova to you and yours.  In observance of the holiday, we will be closed this Thursday and Friday, September 25-26.

We will be back here in the PGNY Rug Blog soon with more news, articles, updates, and commentaries, and look forward to hearing your input on all things area rugs, too!