Work of Art

Seljuk Prayer carpet

Carpet Collection

13th century fragmentary prayer rug, 127cm x 170cm, Konya, Central Antolia; sold on 7-Nov-2017, at Sotheby’s auction.

Content of

Work of Art

Christopher Alexander's carpet collection, at its final state included about 80 carpets, most of them Turkish carpets, or carpets with a pronounced "Turkic" character

Carpet Collection

Christopher Alexander started collecting carpets because of his desire to learn from them. He felt that they had something to teach him. He was never interested in the classification of carpets, where they came from, or on their type. He ...

Contents

Photographs

Seljuk Prayer Carpet: Photographs 01/01/1993

Carpet, Sketches

Photographer:

One of the four - Don Tuttle, Garry Muse, Bud Holland, Dennis Anderson Sketches by Christopher Alexander, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Source:

Digital

Characteristics:

Color, B&W

Seven photographs, one color of the whole carpet, and another one with emphasis on details; also five black and white photos of sketches depicting carpet details and its overall structure, with emphasis on its field of centers.

References

Scientific Research

Geometry and Fifteen Fundamental Properties

Areas of focus:

Structure of Space

Guiding idea:

Centers and Fields of Centers

Christopher Alexander recognized the importance of the geometry of centers and for years he was looking for the common structural features among buildings, paintings, streets, carpets, doors, windows, etc. which have "life" and "wholeness". He identified fifteen structural features which ...

Books

A Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art - The Color and Geometry of very Early Turkish Carpets 1993

Authors:

Christopher Alexander

Publisher:

Oxford University Press, New York, NY, U.S.A.

No of pages:

351 pp

The seventh volume of “The Center for Environmental Structure Series” on architecture published by Oxford University Press is a book about carpets. Alexander assembled what many believe to be one of the finest collections of early Turkish carpets in the ...

Public Events

"Ancient Color and Geometry: Anatolian Pile Carpets from the Christopher Alexander Collection" exhibition in M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco 10/11/1990 to 17/02/1991

M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.

Exhibition

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Bob Theis, Annie der Bedrossian

Organized by:

M.H. de Young Memorial Museum and The Center for Environmental Structure

The exhibition of the Christopher Alexander collection of 80 Turkish carpets in the de Young Memorial Museum was held during the 6th International Conference on Oriental Carpets. Alexander designed the exhibit in all its detailing personally with one thing in ...