Chinese textiles go back thousands of years. The Silk Road was named for the extensive trade in these fine materials. Due to China's size and history of successive wealthy dynasties, a vast amount of textile art is available for study today. Great tombs have yielded beautiful and dateable pieces worn and used by elite members of Chinese society. These and other fragile examples reside in museums and a few private collections. Other examples of antique Chinese textiles are found still to be in the marketplace. While it is impossible to look at these beautiful examples and not admire the skill of the weaver and embroiderer, until now there has been little information about their history or value. This comprehensive guide to collectible Chinese textiles with an extensive number of examples and with an understandable grading system that relates to what constitutes value. This book is beautifully illustrated with over 500 detailed photos of ceremonial court robes, badges, and decorative textiles dating from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) through the Ching dynasty, (1644-1911). It is designed for historians, Asian studies sholars, and textile collectors, from beginning to advanced, as a real-world representation of available pieces and an indepth study. It is a must for appraisers and connoisseurs alike.

Quilts bear witness to the American experience. With a history that spans the early republic to the present day, this form of textile art can illuminate many areas of American life, such as immigration and settlement, the development of our nation's textile industry, and the growth of mass media and marketing. In short, each quilt tells a story that is integral to America's history. Comfort and Glory introduces an outstanding collection of American quilts and quilt history documentation, the Winedale Quilt Collection at the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. This volume showcases 115 quilts-nearly one-quarter of the Winedale Collection-through stunning color photographs (including details) and essays about each quilt's history and construction. The selections span more than two hundred years of American quiltmaking and represent a broad range of traditional styles and functions. Utility quilts, some worn or faded, join show quilts, needlework masterpieces, and "best" quilts saved for special occasions. Texas quilts, including those made in or brought to Texas during the nineteenth century, constitute a significant number of the selections. Color photographs of related documents and material culture objects from the Briscoe Center's collections-quilting templates, a painted bride's box, sheet music, a homespun dress, a brass sewing bird, and political ephemera, among them-enrich the stories of many of the quilts.

The motifs and design elements of lighting, furnishings, and everyday household implements have long served as teachers, offering clues and insight into the lives of the people who created and owned them. Here is a comprehensive tour of figured coverlets made between 1817 and 1869. These antique woven bedcovers, with their graphic and colorful images of trains, animals, buildings, heroes and patriotic symbols, provide a wonderful and perhaps unique snapshot of the bright optimism that was the 19th-century spirit of America. Over 100 coverlets are shown in full, in color, and on both sides. They include many early and rare pieces, offering an unprecedented reference on the subject. Nearly all are dated and/or identified, and represent all the major coverlet producing states.

Art takes many forms. In this selection of Asian court attire, dating from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the phrase "you are what you wear" resonates. Vollmer journeys back to the thirteenth-century Chinese Empire, where ancestors of the ruling Manchu conquerors dressed fittingly. These exquisite costumes remind us that royalty once set fashion standards the way that celebrities do today, but that these garments also promoted distinct national and political messages that helped keep a ruling minority in power for nearly three centuries. Dressed to Rule is a guide to the exhibit, of the same name, that appeared at the University of Alberta in 2007.

Presents a selection of more than 100 furnishing textiles and designs that range from a spectacular printed hanging designed by the Wiener Werkstatte artist, Dagobert Peche, between 1911 and 1918, to a series of dramatic woven, silk and metal wall coverings Les Colombes designed by Henri Stephany for the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes. The Art Deco period is well represented by the works of Raoul Dufy, Alberto Lorenzi, Robert Bonfils, Alfred Latour, Emile Alain Seguy and Paul Dumas. Although the majority of pre-Second World War textiles are of French origin, the exhibition also includes some rare British furnishing fabrics from the 1930s, in particular the iconic and very elegant Magnolia Leaf by Marion Dorn, woven in off-white and silver viscut by Warner & Sons in 1936. During this period, Britain attracted talented European designers, such as Jacqueline Groag and Marian Mahler who had trained with Josef Hoffmann at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule. They became highly influential in creating a 'New Look' that took hold of Britain after the austerities of the Second World War. 'The Festival of Britain,' held in 1951, was epitomised by Calyx which launched the career of its designer, Lucienne Day and is now considered to be a landmark of post-War design. So great was its success that several versions were produced as well as contemporary copies, all of which are reproduced here in spectacular colour. Two great textiles from the 1950s - Seaweed designed by Ashley Havinden in 1954 for Arthur Sanderson and Grecian by Alec Hunter in 1956 for Warner & Sons - bridge the gap between the spirit and elegance of the inter-War period and the new 'contemporary' look of the 1950s. Britain maintained its pre-eminent position in textile design throughout the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. This was because firms like Edinburgh Weavers, Heal & Sons and Hull Traders and museums such as the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester (the centre of the British textile industry) worked hard at integrating and promoting great design, often by well-known artists within the industry. Among the artists who worked with Edinburgh Weavers were Marino Marini, Victor Vasarely and Alan Reynolds. Britain was not alone in applying art to industry. An elegant example of Op Art is the work of the German artist, Wolf Bauer, whose 1969/70 designs for one of the leading American manufacturers, Knoll Textiles, is a highlight of this book.

Every Persian carpet has a story to tell -- from the remote villages of Afghanistan and Iran, down the ancient trade routes traveled for centuries, to the bazaars of Tehran and the markets of the Western world. Carpet-making is one of this tumultuous region's few constants, an art form that transcends religious and political turmoil. Part travelogue and part exploration into the meaning and worth of these mystical artifacts, "The Root of Wild Madder" presents practical information about carpets while exploring the artistic, religious, and cultural complexities of these enigmatic lands.

From fleece, yarn, and dyeing to looms and weaves, the visual language, tribal weavers, and meaning, origins, and aesthetics of the kilim, this book provides an ideal and up-to-date summary of the subject. It is illustrated with over 80 colorful examples, fine ethnographic photographs, and drawings that explain structural features and designs.

Advance Acclaim

"A welcome addition to the inquiring collector's shelf…offers important new insights…"

The Toms collections boasts one of the most important groupings of tapestries privately assembled during the second half of the 20th century. It's more than 100 examples, woven between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries in workshops of Flanders, France, Italy and England, are noteworthy not only for their geographic, historical and thematic diversity but also for the remarkable condition. Mary Toms, widow of Reginald Toms, bequeathed this legacy in 1993 to the Canton of Vaud (Switzerland). This catalogue documents all of the woven works in the Toms collection, providing historical and artistic analysis. This richly illustrated volume is intended for novice readers, veteran tapestry lovers, and specialists alike.