Islamic art

In the southern province of Antalya, nearly 20,000 handwoven carpets and rugs from all over Türkiye are being laid out in fields after restoration, as some field owners guard the carpets, ranging in price from 3,000 to 400,000 Turkish Liras, against theft and rain throughout the night.

Egyptian luxury brands are harnessing traditional craftsmanship from jewelry design to carpet weaving to bring the country's ancient cultural riches to the world.

Experts in the sector say the global appeal of Arab and Islamic designs from other countries shows Egypt could do more to promote its rich, millennia-old artistic heritage.

Christie's has announced the Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, a live auction at Christie's on April 27. The sale features striking examples of manuscripts, paintings, ceramics, metalwork, and carpets.

Striking geometric shapes that recall 20th century abstract art are not what you would expect to see adorning a handmade Iranian rug. But changing tastes and increased competition from Asia have forced some in the trade to redesign and resize a tradition dating back more than 2,000 years.

Iran announced on June 27 that weavers in the southern province of Fars had produced the world's largest kilim rug, measuring an enormous 105 square meters (more than 1,100 square feet).

The Börekçi family and other families in the Döşemealtı district of the Mediterranean coastal province of Antalya returned to the fields two months earlier this year to lay their hand-woven carpets under the sun to give them their pastel colors.

British auction house Christie's will offer collectors a chance to purchase the rare portraits of six Ottoman sultans - Orhan Gazi, Bayezid I, Isa Chelebi, Mehmed I, Selim I and Selim II - when they go under the hammer on Oct. 28.

The portraits are expected to fetch a total of 800,000 to 1.2 million pounds ($1.1 million - $1.64 million).

A coffee collection of a Turkish couple is known to be one of the largest private collections related to Ottoman and Turkish coffee culture in the world, and they now aspire to establish a coffee museum.

Two of the 223 500-year-old İznik tiles and a tile panel, stolen from the Ulu Mosque in the southern province of Adana during its restoration 19 years ago, have been found in the Netherlands.

Mamluk style handmade carpets woven by women in Turkey's eastern Iğdır province are adorning homes in Japan.

In a joint project by the Turkish Employment Agency and Iğdır University, Turkish carpets were exported to Japan by women who are new to the profession.