David
Eckles and Allene Wong were interested in tribal and folk art, and
initially thought about buying antique oriental rugs as an investment.
But the more they learned, the more they fell in love with the art form.
“Tribal
rugs are very personal, something that speaks to you from a distant
culture and tells you what life was like more than a century ago,” says
Wong. “They’re so alive, and they tell a story.”
The
couple, who are retired, rotate 61 rugs, collectively worth $2.5m,
throughout their three homes in Piedmont, California, and Hawaii, and
have built a cedar-lined storage closet to protect the pieces not on
display. Each of their rugs, including many museum-level specimens, is
one-of-a-kind, woven in an isolated village using materials and
techniques that cannot be replicated today. “I don’t just roll them up
and place them in a vault,” Wong says. “They’re not purely an
investment. We put our rugs on the floor and treat them as part of the
family.”
In many ways, the coterie of
antique rug collectors is the antithesis of those in the contemporary
art market; they shun the press and conduct transactions behind closed
doors. A handful of high-end dealers act as private consultants helping
curate their clients’ collections. “Serious collectors are typically
very private,” says Jan David Winitz, founder and president of
Claremont Rug Company in Oakland, California, with whom Eckles and Wong
have built their collection. “They enjoy the personal satisfaction of
living with this timeless art stemming before the age of commercialism.”
Most
existing antique carpets date from the 19th century. “Oriental” refers
to rugs handwoven in the East, from the Balkans into China, which are
the product of a carpetmaking tradition dating back at least 700 years.
Most were produced in Persia the Caucasus, Central Asia, Turkey,
Afghanistan and China.
Oriental rugs
are divided into three categories – tribal, city and village. Tribal
rugs were woven by nomads or tribal people living in small encampments
using motifs and methods particular to their ethnic groups. They were
typically produced for personal use and are marked by abstract,
totemic, spontaneous designs. City rugs, however, were often
commissioned by aristocratic patrons and created by groups of weavers
working from meticulous blueprints, or “cartoons”, conceived by a
master craftsman. Weavers convened in workshops, primarily in Persia or
Turkey, to create rugs known for their intricate, floral images.
Village rugs form a bridge between tribal and city, blending geometric
elements with rhythmic, regular patterns.
Winitz
says that for the past year, many of his patrons – a list that includes
more than two dozen members of the Forbes 500 wealthiest list – have
talked about diversifying their assets. “Our clients… are looking for a
quiet, non-volatile way to invest their money. Rugs are a lifestyle
investment with a different form of appreciation.”
While
financial returns may not be buyers’ dominant motivation, all tout the
enduring investment value of antique rugs…. Many pieces remain in
families for generations and come to market only when heirs, perhaps
focused on sexier markets, decide to sell their antiques. Last month,
Claremont Rug Company began selling a diverse 225-piece collection from
a patrician family based in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Because
truly rare rugs emerge so infrequently on the international market it
is hard to track their re-sale value. And because the rugs were
produced anonymously, collectors are unable to monitor comparable works
by the same artists. But market insiders believe antique oriental rugs
to be universally undervalued. “These rugs are phenomenal art, but
they’re not priced anything like what they’re really worth. They’re not
recognised yet,” says Jon Schreiber, a collector. For the past two
decades he has specialised in world-class Caucasian tribal rugs.
“Someday, not that far in the future, they’ll take off the way
paintings have.”
Yet these
“drought-like conditions” have caused prices to rise in recent years.
“High-collectible and museum-level rugs are only a minute percentage of
all rugs,” Winitz says. “The majority went into private collections
between 25 and 75 years ago. We’re talking about a market where demand
is much greater than supply.” Winitz says that during the past five
years, many clients have become voracious about collecting, purchasing
between 50 and 200 rugs each. But for now, antique rugs are generally
priced lower than other art forms.
…Antique
rug dealers and collectors often wax lyrical about their esoteric
pursuit, calling rugs time capsules, or a window into history. As
opposed to contemporary artists’ desire to stimulate and shock, weavers
once strove to express the harmony and grace they found in nature; they
believed that art was a process in which each step – from raising sheep
and shearing wool, to brewing dyes and tying each knot – must be
perfected for the final product to reach its “ultimate state”. To
modern acolytes, such rugs represent a return to the balance and
simplicity of a lost civilization.
“These
rugs represent artistic striving over a period of months or years, and
the techniques are unchanged since biblical times,” Winitz says. “Our
world has become so impersonal and highly technological. Our clients
are looking for items that are original, elemental and are a part of
the heritage of man. This is art of the heart, rather than art of the
ego.”
Because fine distinctions in antique rugs are difficult to recognize,
new collectors should work with established, reputable dealers.
Novices should also familiarize themselves with certain basic criteria
to ensure their chosen rugs will appreciate in value over time. Make
sure the rug you are considering:
●
is at least 100 years old, a true antique, handwoven before the
beginning of the commercial period, when workshops began producing rugs
for export.
●
features traditional designs and colours combined in original or
unexpected ways to reveal the weaver’s unique sensibility. City rugs
are prized as the “art of absolute perfection” because of their balance
and replication of patterns throughout, while tribal rugs are valued
for their asymmetry and improvisational aspect.
●
contains only pure natural dyes, which provide a greater variety of
hues. Abrash, a colour technique with striation, creates tremendous
depth, and some colours are prized above others; Tyrian purple, for
instance, came from molluscs gathered along the Caspian Sea that were
extinct by the late 19th century.
●
is crafted using the highest-quality fibers. “Mountain oily wool is
renowned for strength, elasticity, and high lanolin content, which
creates a luminous patina enhanced over time,” says Jan David Winitz,
founder and president of Claremont Rug Company.
●
is well-preserved for its age, and any restoration has been executed
flawlessly using original materials….The rarer the rug, the more
acceptable restoration is.
