European & Middle Eastern Textiles & Rugs

Torah covers in gold thread, a Turkmen hat, a sack of flour in 19th-century Europe. European and Middle Eastern textiles of ritual, trade and the household cover that ground. Torah covers, called bein gavra, are brocaded and embroidered in gold thread on velvet with Hebrew inscriptions. Turkmen telpak and Tekke or Yomud hats, Sufi dervish caps, a double-sided ceremonial banner with Russian inscriptions, Berber weaving from Morocco and Belgian tapestry with castles and waterscapes in the verdure tradition sit side by side. Old European grain sacks, woven of heavy linen and stamped with their owners’ names, carried wheat and flour from farm to mill and now make sturdy pillows and upholstery.

Faded velvet, metallic thread and coarse homespun bring a worn, layered surface. A framed Torah cover in a study, a grain-sack pillow on a leather bench: both look as if they had always lived there.