The James K. Douglas Collection 

James collected rugs with a passion from the early 1990s until 2020. In the early years, his focus was primarily on Baluch rugs, and by 2002 he was invited to curate an exhibition of Baluch rugs at the American Conference on Oriental Rugs in Indianapolis. James collected widely within the full range of Baluch rugs, but being of an analytical bent, took it upon himself to develop specific subsets of his Baluch collection, specifically “Arab” Baluch rugs, symmetrically knotted Baluch rugs, and flatwoven pieces.

Over time, as his library, knowledge, and collection grew, his interests expanded beyond the Baluch group, and he developed his collection in other areas - south Persian tribal pile bags and flatweaves, followed by a focus on the wide variety of weavings from the Varamin region. Along the way, as his eye became more refined, he would not hesitate to buy a beautiful piece from outside his areas of focus when the opportunity presented itself - a Kurdish bag, a Turkish kilim,… The collection is full of intriguing sub-collections of groups or characteristics that interested James or caught his eye. He was particularly interested in Baluch rugs with red grounds, which are less common than blue or brown grounds. He loved bags with gratuitous, unnecessary decoration details - decorated closure tabs, 2 color braided closure ropes, decorated backs - and he was intrigued by small personal bags, which he felt more directly reflected the personality of the weaver.

His collection grew to the point that not all of it can be presented here, but we will post examples from his outstanding collection below and in the attached pages, with information about particular aspects of the pieces that intrigued James, both before and after he acquired them.