Embroidered hanging or cover (suzani) (detail), late 19th century. Cotton plain weave with silk embroidery, 98 x 75 in. (248.92 x 190.5 cm). The Caroline and H. McCoy Jones Collection. Bequest of H. McCoy Jones, 1988.11.468. Photograph by Randy Dodson
The McCoy Jones Collection: Textiles from Central Asia and the Middle East
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Featuring rugs and embroideries from the McCoy Jones Collection, this exhibition highlights the work of different tribes and cultural groups from across Central Asia and the Middle East. Drawn from one of the largest collections of Central Asian and Middle Eastern nomadic textiles in the United States, the works on view range from furnishings and wedding embroideries from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to a contemporary textile sculpture. In the sculpture, by Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed (b. 1982), a traditional carpet design gradually melts into a pool of colors and outlines. The exhibition tells the story of the McCoy Jones Collection while celebrating the diversity of artistic practices and cultures within Central Asia and the Middle East.
About the collection
A transformative gift from H. McCoy Jones (1897–1987) and Caroline Jones (1917–2006) in 1988, the McCoy Jones Collection includes over 1,000 costume and textile objects from around the globe, with more than 600 carpets and textiles from across Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. This gift turned the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco into one of the country’s greatest repositories of carpets and textiles from these areas of the world.
