Iran Restores Sassanid King Statue

Shapur ruled with his father Ardashir I the founder of the Sasanian dynasty. They are noted for their wars against Rome. JBOC

Iran Restores Sassanid King Statue

Statue of Sasanian Persian King Shapur

Statue of Sasanian Persian King Shapur full

Iranian cultural heritage experts are planning to restore the statue of the Sassanid king Shapur I in the southern Fars province.
The restoration project will start soon after Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization provides the necessary funding, Presstv reported.
Located in the cave of Shapur, the seven-meter-tall statue of the second Sassanid King was made of a stalagmite about 1,800 years ago.
The sculpture was pulled down after the Sassanid dynasty collapsed about 1,400 years ago and part of one of its legs was broken. Parts of his arms were also smashed about 70 years ago as a result of an earthquake.
A team of Iranian experts did some restorations in 1957, raising it again on iron and cement feet.
Although their work partially ruined the artistic integrity of the artifact, it could prevent further damage.
The new restoration plan will be a joint project of the cultural heritage office of Fars province and Pasargadae Research Center.

Sassanid Dynasty
The Sassanid Empire was ruled by the Sassanid Dynasty from 224 to 651. The Sassanid Empire was recognized as one of the two main powers in Western Asia and Europe alongside the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire for a period of more than 400 years.
The Empire was founded by Ardeshir I, after the fall of the Arsacids and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus IV. The Empire lasted till Yazdegerd III lost control of his empire in a series of invasions from the Arab Caliphate. During its existence, the Sassanid Empire encompassed all of today’s Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Dagestan), southwestern Central Asia, most of Turkey, certain coastal parts of the Arabian Peninsula, the Persian Gulf area, and areas of southwestern Pakistan.
The Sassanid era, during Late Antiquity, is considered to have been one of Iran’s most important and influential historical periods. In many ways the Sassanid period witnessed the highest achievement of ancient Persian civilization, and constituted the last great Iranian empire before the Muslim conquest and the adoption of Islam.
Persia influenced Roman civilization considerably during the Sassanids’ times, and the empires regarded one another as equals, as exemplified in the letters written by the rulers of the two states addressing each other as “brother”.
The Sassanids’ cultural influence extended far beyond the empire’s territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China, and India. It played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asiatic medieval art. This influence, and especially the dynasty’s unique, aristocratic culture, carried forward to the early Islamic world after the Muslim conquest of Iran.
Art 

Artistically, the Sassanid period witnessed some of the highest achievements of Persian civilization. Much of what later became known as Muslim culture, including architecture and writing, was originally drawn from Persian culture. At its peak the Sassanid Empire stretched from Syria to northwest India, but its influence was felt far beyond these political boundaries. Sassanid motifs found their way into the art of Central Asia and China, the Byzantine Empire, and even Merovingian France. Islamic art however, was the true heir to Sassanid art, whose concepts it was to assimilate while, at the same time instilling fresh life and renewed vigor into it. According to Will Durant:
“Sassanid art exported its forms and motifs eastward into India, Turkestan, and China, westward into Syria, Asia Minor, Constantinople, the Balkans, Egypt, and Spain. Probably its influence helped to change the emphasis in Greek art from classic representation to Byzantine ornament, and in Latin Christian art from wooden ceilings to brick or stone vaults and domes and buttressed walls.”
Sassanid carvings at Taq-e Bostan and Naqsh-e Rustam were colored; so were many features of the palaces; but only traces of such painting remain. The literature, however, makes it clear that the art of painting flourished in Sassanid times; the prophet Mani is reported to have founded a school of painting; Ferdowsi speaks of Persian magnates adorning their mansions with pictures of Iranian heroes; and the poet al-Buhturi describes the murals in the palace at Ctesiphon.
When a Sassanid king died, the best painter of the time was called upon to make a portrait of him for a collection kept in the royal treasury.
Painting, sculpture, pottery, and other forms of decoration shared their designs with Sassanid textile art. Silks, embroideries, brocades, damasks, tapestries, chair covers, canopies, tents, and rugs were woven with patience and masterly skill, and were dyed in warm tints of yellow, blue, and green.
The two dozen Sassanid textiles that have survived are among the most highly valued fabrics in existence. Even in their own day, Sassanid textiles were admired and imitated from Egypt to the Far East; and during the Middle Ages they were favored for clothing the relics of Christian saints.
When Heraclius captured the palace of Khosru Parviz at Dastagerd, delicate embroideries and an immense rug were among his most precious spoils.
Famous was the “Winter Carpet”, also known as “Khosro’s Spring” (Spring Season Carpet) of Khosru Anushirvan, designed to make him forget winter in its spring and summer scenes: flowers and fruits made of inwoven rubies and diamonds grew, in this carpet, beside walks of silver and brooks of pearls traced on a ground of gold.
Harun Al-Rashid prided himself on a spacious Sassanid rug thickly studded with jewelry. Persians wrote love poems about their rugs. 

Are Ushak rugs made in Iran?

Are Ushak rugs made in Iran? 
Ushak rugs are a traditional Turkish rug with certain distinct characteristics. The rugs are thick with wool pile on a wool foundation. The knot counts tend to be low and I generally expect then to be less than 100 knots per square inch. Quite often the wool is very soft and is said to be part goat wool. 
Could they be making Ushak rugs in Mahabad, Iran? Labor is expensive in Turkey which means weavers are taking higher paying manufacturing jobs so fewer and fewer rugs are being woven. Iran has plenty of weavers but with the embargo the huge US market is closed to them. Mahabad produced great Sauj Bulaq but there is not a strong market for the modern Kurdish rugs produced there. 
So it is very possible that if they started weaving Ushak rugs as soon they made it to Germany no one in US Customs would identify them as Persian rugs. I will keep my eyes open for new Ushak rugs. I think I could tell by the feel of the wool.  JBOC

New Persian Ushak in an Arts and Crafts Pattern

Back of the above rug.

Ushak carpets also known as Ziegler carpets, made by the artist carpet weavers of Mahabad in West Azarbaijan province, are very popular in international markets specially among American buyers.
The carpets made in this city are exported to many countries like Japan, Canada, Russia, Pakistan, Europe and Arab countries of the Middle East.
Among all the carpets made by Mahabad carpet weavers popular in foreign countries, Ushak or Ziegler carpets stands out: A local hand-made carpet whose fibers are made of sheep fur and colored with natural and herbal materials.
This 150 year old carpet is mostly made in huge sizes and since the fibers used in it are thick, they call it Ushak which means thick-fibered.
According to Yaqub Bab Sur, a carpet expert in the city of Mahabad, in the few years since this kind of carpet has been produced, more than 10 thousand square meters have been exported to foreign countries.
He also noted the designs used in this carpet are inspired by nature and up to 8 colors are used in its making.
Bab Sur also added: “Today more than 200 carpet weavers in Mahabad are making Ushak carpets.
Suitable publicity for this carpet is one of the reasons it has become so popular in the West, Chia Qorbani Aqdam, manager of the union of hand-made carpets said, adding: “Paying more attention to carpet exportation can increase production as well as quality which would lead to the presence of Iran's carpet in international markets.”
According to Qurbani Aqdam, the government must have proper plans in order to encourage and facilitate the carpet industry particularly in West Azarbaijan province through insurance and business support. http://www.iran-daily.com/News/110731.html
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|News ID:110731
Publish Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2015 20:25:08 GMT
Service: Iran

The city of Mahabad, with a production of more than 4 thousand square meters of hand-made carpets a year and due to the high variety and quality of its carpets, has become a major carpet producing zone in West Azarbaijan province.

American Friends of the Middle East CIA Front Organization

American Friends of the Middle East

In 1951 Kermit “Kim” Roosevelt, Jr. and his long time hatchet man Donald Newton Wilber put together American Friends of the Middle East. As window dressing they hid behind such luminaries such as columnist Dorothy Thompson, Reverend Harry Emerson Fosdick and more than 20 others. But Kim Roosevelt was executive secretary in the early days.

While they made a point of fund raising American Friends of the Middle East was funded by the Central Intelligence Agency and ARAMCO. King Abdulaziz  had threatened to nationalize ARAMCO a year earlier so it is possible that ARAMCO was either operating on its own or at the direction of Saudi Intelligence.

The American Friends of the Middle East was an Anti-Zionist and Pro-Arab organization. It is easy to stretch Anti-Zionism into Anti-Semitism but I think that is an unfair characterization.
George O'Bannon worked for American Friends of the Middle East in 1964-1965.

George W. O’Bannon, Donald N. Wilber and American friends of the Middle east

This is the article by Don Wilber that links George O'Bannon to American friends of the Middle east. Wilber revealed his ties to the CIA in his last book Adventuires in the Middle East. By telling how he met O'Bannon he closes a circle since American friends of the Middle east has been acknowledged as a CIA Front that was jointly funded by the CIA and ARAMCO

[This article originally appeared in print in Volume 13, No. 3 of Oriental Rug Review, in 1993.]
George W. O’Bannon, An Irishman In Friendly Disguise by Donald N. Wilber

We had the pleasure of meeting George and Helen O’Bannon in 1964 when he worked for the American friends of the Middle east, an influential organization in which we had a strong interest. From 1966 to 1968 George was Assistant Director of the Peace Corps in Afghanistan. While he traveled widely in that country, Helen added to their growing family that was to number four sons: Patrick, Colin, and Sean and Casey, twins.

 George and Helen O’Bannon with Patrick, Colin, and the twins Sean and Casey

Helen added to their growing family that was to number four sons: Patrick, Colin, and Sean and Casey, twins.
On these travels, rugs were under foot: his first purchase was a Nain, a beginner’s choice in the land where rugs of many local types were available. As he was absorbed into the rug world, Baluchs and Turkomans became his specialties and he moved into the forefront of experts in these fields.

In 1973 he started dealing in rugs, and in 1976 opened a rug shop in Pittsburgh, O’Bannon’s Oriental Rugs. He was an early member of the Princeton Rug Society and spoke often to us. His base at Pittsburgh was also that of Helen, a member of the Public Utility Commission of Pennsylvania. Brilliant Helen was an outstanding administrator with a far reaching vision that she displayed later in a major post, Senior Vice President, at the University of Pennsylvania. And she always maintained a close connection with Wellesley, her college.

George also was publishing: in 1974 The Turkoman Carpet, featuring rugs from Afghanistan and establishing a bridge between the old and the new. About 1976 appeared Oriental Rugs From Western Pennsylvania Collections, Kazak and Uzbek Rugs from Afghanistan appeared in 1979 and Tulu: Traditional Rugs from Central Anatolia in 1987. The same year, his role of frequent contributor of articles to Oriental Rug Review blossomed into a very active profession as editor of the magazine.

By 1983 George and Helen were in a new home in a suburb of Philadelphia, facing a bright future together. In 1985, he opened another rug gallery on Philadelphia’s Spring Street. But, in 1988 the bright future vanished: at 49, Helen was struck down by a fatal affliction.

George stayed for some time in the inner city, but the town was no longer home and he moved to southern Arizona, not a great distance from the region where he spent his childhood. Publication continues. Now his exhaustive bibliography of rug books is at press.

But a short recitation of events in his career does not give us George as a person: blessed with an even temper, incapable of being either cross or rude; a man kind to all and who keeps in touch with friends for many years. At a time when the rug world is plagued by know-it-alls, and a few bad tempered persons, George stands for sanity, honesty, and experience. One of his articles questioned the validity of a Turkoman piece at auction, and was rewarded by a savage personal attack by the leader of the ill-tempered group. Later he wrote a rather devastating review of a display of kilims that were highly overpraised by the organizers of the show. Since then, this praise has been muted.

George is a man of many interests, and the range of his endeavors in the field of rug studies alone is exhausting to contemplate. Despite his hectic schedule, or maybe because of it, George seems always (almost always) available.

[This article originally appeared in print in Volume 13, No. 3 of Oriental Rug Review, in 1993]