THREE CHILDREN'S STRIPED SATEEN CHAPAN, AFGHANISTAN OR TAJIKISTAN, 20TH CENTURY

THREE CHILDREN'S STRIPED SATEEN CHAPAN, AFGHANISTAN OR TAJIKISTAN, 20TH CENTURY

mainly in green and purple, one also with turquoise and ivory, printed cotton linings, corduroy facings, approximately 104cm, 90cm and 87cm length (3)

THE PIP RAU COLLECTION, PART II

Lots 1 - 181

Olympia Auctions was delighted to offer the first part of Pip Rau’s collection earlier this year. This second sale offers a further selection of her collection, including ‘modernist’ ikats and chapans from Uzbekistan, Syrian costume, and embroideries, textiles, costumes, jewellery, ceramics and artefacts from Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pip Rau (1938–2024) was a well-known London dealer and collector of 19th century Asian textiles and costumes. In 1974, she opened a small shop called Rau in Islington, north London, which she ran for 40 years. The shop sold textiles and costumes from Uzbekistan, northern Pakistan and, above all, Afghanistan — a country she adored. The shop on Islington Green attracted an eclectic clientele, including film directors who often came to borrow items from her collection. Pip had an innate ability to recognise the quality of textiles of all types, a talent which had been established during her time as a student; in the 1950s, she studied at both St Martin's School of Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. In the 1970s, Afghanistan was a great place to acquire antique textiles. Having been largely closed to foreigners until the 1960s, by the 1970s the country had opened up to become one of the main stops on the 'hippie trail' from Europe to Nepal, and a country that Pip travelled to time and again to source pieces for her shop and her personal collection. Highlights of our sale include ikat textiles and costumes from Pip's collection. She found her first ikat in Kabul in 1976 and then went on to develop a passion for these distinct Central Asian textiles. She selected textiles based on their visual impact rather than their technical quality. She viewed each piece on its own terms, primarily responding to its graphic qualities — a characteristic that set her apart from her fellow dealers and collectors. Ikat textiles and costumes from her collection were widely exhibited, including at the Crafts Council in London in 1988. In 2007, the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibited and published part of her ikat collection. A group of around 50 Lakai embroideries from Uzbekistan from her collection is now in the British Museum.

Condition Report:

generally fair condition, some surface marking, dirt, fading and discolouration, spotting, rubbing to edges,