Carpets in history, history in carpets

“But there is another, more important reason, which commands a certain hesitation on my part, and that is this: our exhibition is like a chapter in a book on the history of the carpet, opened for the first time today, which, if we examine it more closely, we find more question marks, more lines crossed out, more data recorded in cryptic writing, than clear text. And when one speaks of a so-called place of authority, when one is responsible for what one says to the public, one cannot be too careful, one cannot easily make a statement, without risking scientific seriousness one must neither make statements, nor theorize, nor draw conclusions, unless one has indisputable data and evidence. (…) Future research will have to make use of this material to fill in the gaps that still exist in the history of carpet in this chapter.” (J. Radisics, 1914 Budapest, on the exhibition of Transylvanian carpets)