Salmiya

"Why Michael Franses? Well, I suppose because he represents one large tail of the rug dealers’, highly skewed-to-the-right, distribution. Having tried for decades to paint himself an expert and collector of high-end oriental rugs and honorable dealer, the façade has apparently crumbled. That the Bellini carpet (the object of probably the most egregious fraud of the past 20 years or so in the world of antique rugs) was in his possession before he sold it to Dennis Dodds, I had also noted some time ago when browsing the internet. I did not pay too much attention then since I liked the decoration of Dodd’s home with certainly highly valuable pieces anyway, most probably the only honest reason why rich individuals should collect antique rugs: to display them at home not store them in an inventory. It’s interesting that a simple sting operation exposed Mr. Franses true colors to the interested public. Franses enjoys now, as an employee of the Qatar Museums Authority, life in one of...