Caucasian Prayer Rugs

Rating:
Summary: 5 out of 5 Stars
Review: "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 Otsi 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.

Rating:
Summary: Well researched beautiful book
Review: This is a intricately researched and excellently illustrated book on a subject where good informative material is hard if not impossible to find. The author obviosly knows his subject and weaves the history of the region together with a thorough examination of Caucasian Prayer rugs to create a book for both the novice and the serious collector alike. Use it for your own research or put it on your coffee table.

Rating:
Summary: valuable resource
Review: This is a really informative book on Caucasian Prayer Rugs. Comprehensive data on this subject is not readily available in other rug books. Text includes a brief history of trade and rug weaving in the Caucasus in the 19th century, but my favorite feature of the book is the quality and selection of the color plates of the various types of prayer rugs discussed in the book. I learned alot from it.