For centuries rug weaving has been more than a craft in Tibet. It has been part of the culture. Now these peoples are turning carpet weaving into self-sufficiency by joining non-profit cooperatives that plow profits back into the community in the form of school building, reforestation, and arts projects. As they struggle for economic progress, they achieve something just as important to them: cultural survival.
Come and meet the importer, Vito Nicastro, on Saturday, April 4th from 11-4. Ask, listen and absorb the culture and time honored traditions of these remarkable people as Vito pages through their works of art.
Here are a few of the rugs that you will see, feel and experience when you visit us at Wrentham Antiques.
Flower Offering:3' x 5'-10"
A mixture of traditional Tibetan motifs in the border. In the field, a Metok Bumpa or "Flower Offering" rendered entirely in handcarded, handspun, vegetally-dyed long-staple himalayan wool.
Coin:3' x 5'-9"
One of the richest of all Tibetan carpet designs is the Thamka, or coin-medallion. This carpet has two mirror-image tibetan coin medallions suspended over a deep aubergine field with a border that changes color to indigo blue in the center. That border, the Bashaer, is replete with Tibetan dress costume ornaments and jewelry.
Leaves:8' x 10'-11"
Interpreted from the nature around them, the Tibetans who wove this carpet did the design entirely in silk. The background is wool.
Gaon Naksha:6' x 9'-2"
What if you could travel to India, north to Nepal, into the foothills of the Himalayas? What if you could go penetrate into remote valleys and meet the Tibetan exiles who live there? Could you communicate with them and find out how they see the world? When they look out through their eyes, what do they see? This carpet is one answer to that. It is woven spontaneously in a home and tells the story of Gaon Naksha, Village Life.
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