Letters to the Editor:

Treasures of the Caucasus

Editors Note: When I posted a special discount offer on books I mentioned that Harold Keshishian was not pleased with the color reproduction in one of the 48 plates in his book "The Treasure of the Caucasus". I also mentioned that if anyone spotted the bad plate let me know because it was not readily apparent to me. That being said I received an email from Irwin Kirsch, a man who in a short period of time has become a very serious student of Caucasian rugs:

Hi Barry:

Congratulations on doing an excellent! It is a real pleasure to visit the site.

On browsing through your page of advertisers, I came upon your books ad, and your comments concerning Harold Keshishian's Book, Treasures of the Caucasus. During the lecture at the TM last year (where I had the pleasure of meeting both you and Harold), he mentioned that all the plates in the book were good except one, as you stated. I, like yourself, have difficulty finding a bad plate, but Harold mentioned that it is the Talish Met-hane on page 88 (Plate 36), from none other than one of the truly great Caucasian collectors, Jim Burns. The red field is rare, most common is blue, and especially scarce is a piece with the green field. Harold didn't think that the red color was reproduced correctly. Looks fine to me, but then again...

Take care,

Irwin Kirsch

Dear Irwin,

Thanks for letting me know. Harold Keshishian is a perfectionist and he pays a great deal of attention to color. Now that you point it out I think what happened was that in the printing process and pre-press work they over corrected. It needs about a 3% to 6% red hue adjustment. I had no idea just how complex it is to go from the rug in the studio to the rug on the page of a book. Different brands of film record color differently. Then in the processing the processor tries to match what they think the picture really looked like. Then the setup man readjusts the color in the color separation phase of the book. The pressman then runs it and his work can change the colors again. Wow, with all that room for error Harold should be glad 47 plates came out so well. So I think that it is a little too red and the orange is a little harsher than in real life. Years ago Ulrich Schurmann said in the Textile Museum that there is a good (vegetal) orange in Caucasian rugs and I would expect the Burn's rug to be closer to those tones.

I always call it Harold's book but he had help. Melissa his wife played a big role. Russell Pickering and the late Ralph Yohe wrote the forward. One of the very best structural experts John Wertime helped with the book and the quality of the structural analysis shows his input. Some of the big names in the world of Rug Collecting contributed rugs from their collections including:

Mr. James D. Burns,

Mr. Dennis Dodds,

Mr. and Mrs. Russell S. Fling,

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Keshishian,

Mr. and Mrs. James Mark Keshishian

Mr. and Mrs. Zaven Kish (Mr. Kish is since deceased),

Mr. Kirk Landauer,

Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Moe,

Ms. Brooke Pickering,

Dr. and Mrs. William T. Price,

Mr. and Mrs. Ernest H. Roberts,

Mr. Ralph Yohe (Mr. Yohe is since deceased),