Unknown

Embroidered Roundels of Turtles

Japanese Fukusa Silk embroidery and gold thread

A silk embroidery by an unknown Japanese artist. “Fukusa, Pair of Lobsters” is from the Meiji Period and in golds and blues. The artwork is unsigned. Provenance: Private Collection, Palm Springs Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert

A Japanese embroidery from the Edo Period. “Figure of a Beauty” is a portrait embroidery, silk and gold thread in golds and grays. Provenance: Priv...

"Porter Series: Carte L'Europe (Shower Woman)" is a tapestry by South African artist William Kentridge. It is edition 1 of 5 (plus 2 APs) and signed verso "W. Kentridge". William Kentridge is a South African graphic artist, filmmaker, and theatre arts activist especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The pungent humanism he revealed in these and other works echoed a larger European tradition of artists such as Honoré Daumier, Francisco de Goya, and William Hogarth. Kentridge, whose father was a noted antiapartheid lawyer, attended the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (1973–76) and the now-defunct Johannesburg Art Foundation (1976–78). At various times in the 1970s and ’80s, he worked as an actor, playwright, set designer, and theatrical director, and he studied mime and theatre in Paris in the early 1980s. In 1992 he began an ongoing collaboration involving multimedia performances with Handspring Puppet Theatre (founded 1981) in Cape Town. As is clear from both his early training and his later artistic output, Kentridge’s interest in the visual arts was rooted in its connection with the theatrical arts. The narrative structure and character development in his films reflect this connection. While Kentridge pursued several avenues as an artist, at the centre of his work was a sequence of short animated films. To produce them, he made a rough charcoal drawing, photographed it, altered the drawing slightly, photographed it again, and so on. Kentridge’s original drawings are often completely effaced by their successors. Many of these films—including Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City After Paris (1989) and Felix in Exile (1994)—follow the fortunes of the greedy capitalist Soho Eckstein and his alter ego, the sensitive and artistic Felix Teitelbaum. They present modern South Africa as reflective of the spiritual, ecological, and emotional crises of late capitalism. Kentridge later established himself as a consummate figure in the performing arts, particularly for his innovative stagings of the operas The Nose (2010) and Lulu (2015) at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and Wozzeck (2017) at the Salzburg Festival...

Jamavar The Jamavar of Kashmir is an exquisite heritage textile of India. The original Jamavar was a yard-long shawl of pashmina wool with delicate patterns handwoven in multicolored silk weft threads. Its authentic designs are finely intricate, imparting gentle aristocracy with its most outstanding and popular motif being the elongated teardrop, originally called 'buteh'. The 'buteh' is what one now recognizes as the 'paisley'. These artworks are compositions of the timeless 'buteh' of the Jamavar. The wall panels are embroidered with fine thread cords couched along the pattern. A note on handmade: A handmade product is always appealing due to the irregularities in its workmanship. This is what sets it apart from machine made or computerized; the perfection they offer feels synthetic or artificial. Especially when one speaks of art and craft. These wall panels are works of hand worked embroideries. Imperfections such as an occasional puckering of the base material are expected with the kind of embroidery stitches used. You are assured these artworks are embroidered by highly skilled artisans (it is not possible for craftsmen of lesser experience to create these pieces) The materials used for the embroideries are of superior quality only. About: Shabbir Merchant...

Tree of Life One ancient mythical symbol appears across various cultures as the esoteric Tree of Life. The Tree represents life's abundance and immortality. The cosmic mountain is often depicted as the highest point on earth where heaven and earth meet, where Gods dwell; the Tree stands atop it. Specific trees are held sacred and worshipped as the Tree of Life by the different cultures, and it does not bode well to cut the Peepal in India, Bodhi (Peepal) in Buddhist countries, Cyprus in Iran etc. About: "Art is just perception. The first glance is an emotion, your emotion. The title of the canvas is read after that."- Shabbir Merchant...

Jaali' of Urdu origin meaning netting, is an ornamental open work originally crafted on wood, metal and stone for interiors. A significant feature of Indo-Islamic art, the Jaali is an intricate pattern ranging from delicate trellises to complex floral layouts. The wall panels depict the interlacing design of the Jaali in mid earth tones on silk. The compositions of flowers and the paisley are embroidered in thread with subtle highlightes of shine. A note on handmade: A handmade product is always appealing due to the irregularities in its workmanship. This is what sets it apart from machine made or computerized; the perfection they offer feels synthetic or artificial. Especially when one speaks of art and craft. These wall panels are works of hand worked embroideries. Imperfections such as an occasional puckering of the base material are expected with the kind of embroidery stitches used. You are assured these artworks are embroidered by highly skilled artisans (it is not possible for craftsmen of lesser experience to create these pieces) The materials used for the embroideries are of superior quality only. About: Shabbir Merchant...

Jaali: Jaali' of Urdu origin meaning netting, is an ornamental open work originally crafted on wood, metal and stone for interiors. A significant feature of Indo-Islamic art, the Jaali is an intricate pattern ranging from delicate trellises to complex floral layouts. The wall panels depict the interlacing design of the Jaali in mid earth tones on silk. The compositions of flowers and the paisley are embroidered in thread with subtle highlightes of shine. A note on handmade: A handmade product is always appealing due to the irregularities in its workmanship. This is what sets it apart from machine made or computerized; the perfection they offer feels synthetic or artificial. Especially when one speaks of art and craft. These wall panels are works of hand worked embroideries. Imperfections such as an occasional puckering of the base material are expected with the kind of embroidery stitches used. You are assured these artworks are embroidered by highly skilled artisans (it is not possible for craftsmen of lesser experience to create these pieces) The materials used for the embroideries are of superior quality only. About: Shabbir Merchant...