Notes on Ralph Kaffel

• Important collector of Oriental Carpets.

• Ralph Kaffel is a new ACOR board member as of 1998.

• Kaffel, Ralph. Caucasian Prayer Rugs. London, UK. Laurence King in Association with Hali, 1998.

• Kaffel, Ralph, Contributing Editors, Hali The International Magazine of Antique Carpet and Textile Art.

• On a personal note Kaffel is both a gentleman and a scholar. There are few people who have worked longer, harder and more systematically than Ralph to learn about rugs. It is a pleasure to speak with Ralph and to learn from his vast knowledge. I certainly appreciate the help he is willing to give to relative newcomers like myself.

• A Conversation with Ralph and Linda Kaffel," ORR Staff, Oriental Rug Review, X/4/6-11

• Ralph Kaffel has been partners for over twenty-six years with Saul Zaentz, Al Bendich, and Frank Noonan. They owned Fantasy Records then the worlds largest jazz record company. The also own the rights to the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival, the largest selling American 4 person group of all time. They have also had a major impact in the movie industry where they have produced:

  • The English Patient,

  • Amadeus,

  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,

  • The Lord of the Rings,

  • Amadeus, The Unbearable Lightness of Being,

  • The Mosquito Coast

  • Payday, and others.

• http://www.fantasyjazz.com/

Kaffel, Ralph. Caucasian Prayer Rugs. London, UK. Laurence King in Association with Hali, 1998.

"Prayer Rugs" by Ralph Kaffel was a pleasant surprise. Instead of just another pseudo-scientific rehash of someone else’s field work Kaffel has presented us with a lesson in connoisseurship. All too often someone will read all the literature and present their distillation as fact. In "Prayer Rugs" Kaffel show us his sources and when there is disagreement he shows us the differences in opinion. In the discussion of Daghestan Prayer rugs he even gives us the opinions of auction house specialists such as Mary Jo Otsea and Jo Kris. This book is not ethnology or anthropology it is about collecting Caucasian Prayer rugs and in the light it gets a solid 5 stars.

Guest Review: Daniel DSD. Ralph Kaffel's book “Caucasian Prayer Rugs” not a 5 stars but a 6 stars book. I have read for the second time Ralph Kaffel's book “Caucasian Prayer Rugs”, and it is a pleasure to report that the whole book is of very high quality. This outstanding book serves both as a primer for the freshman collector and an exceptionally addition to the expert's library. One need no look deeper than the cover to be appealed to the aesthetic merit of the rugs shown. Photographs are excellent and commentaries on the 97 prayer rugs are accurate and particular informative. Description of designs, colors and structural features particular to each weaving area are a worthy read.

Kazak Borchalo Prayer Rug,
... Very closely related example: Ralph Kaffel ? Caucasian prayer rug
? Plate 6 ? pages 44/45 Comments: The example presented here ...

Guide To Shirvan Rugs
... One stumbling block is that as my friend Ralph Kaffel reminds me that structurally
Marasali rugs are firmly in the Shirvan group. ... Kaffel, Ralph. ...

Antique Marsali Prayer Rug
... Ralph Kaffel in Hali 103 mentions this type of main border which he calls a cartouche
border but he fails to show and example of a rug with this border. ...

Persian Varamin Area Shahsevan Ru-korsi
... One stumbling block is that as my friend Ralph Kaffel reminds me that
structurally Marasali rugs are firmly in the Shirvan group. ...

Antique Marsali Prayer Rug
... This rug is part of a very small group of rugs and can be compared to Plate 94 in
Ralph Kaffel's Caucasian Prayer Rugs a magnificent white ground Marsali from ...

How can we track Caucasian Pricing?
... I think Ralph Kaffel provides most of the actual reviewing at least
on US auctions and he is about the best there is in the field. ...

Marasali Question
... he does not break it out to format and color. The best discussion of
Marasali Prayer rugs is Kaffel, Ralph. Caucasian Prayer Rugs. ...

For Further Reading:

Thanks and best wishes,

J. Barry O'Connell Jr.

Tabriz Rugs

Kashmar Rugs

Isfahan Rugs

Hamadan Rugs

Mashad Rugs

Gabbeh Rugs

Heriz Rugs

Ardabil Rugs

Lylyan Rugs

Turkmen Rugs

Persian Rugs

Turkish Rugs

Suzani

Oriental Rugs

Persian Carpets

Baluch Rugs,

The Qashqai and Qashqai Rugs

Veramin Rugs

Tribal Rugs

Khotan-Rugs

Khotan-Carpets

Kirman-Rugs

Kirman-Carpets

Antique-Rugs

Antique-Carpets

Shahsevan-Rugs

Oushak-Rugs

Mashad-Rugs

Gabbeh-Rugs

Kurdish-Rugs

Becoming Missional

Index to JBOC's Rug Notes

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z