By Pallavi Jain and Amit Sarwal
The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney is currently holding an exhibition, ‘Weavers, Merchants and Kings: Cadrys 70th Anniversary,’ celebrating the 70th anniversary of Cadrys, the first Persian-owned carpet business in Sydney.
The exhibition showcases an antique carpet that connects Surat in India to Dorokhsh in Iran and is over a century old.
Prof. Pedram Khosronejad, who is the curator of Persian arts at the Museum spoke exclusively to The Australia Today’s Editor Pallavi Jain about this antique Persian Dorokhsh carpet believed to have been created for a royal palace.
Prof. Pedram Khosronejad, says this carpet provides a rare glimpse into Indo-Persian history.
He says:
“Loaned by Cadrys, it is one of only a handful of examples known to feature an architectural scene as the central design and provides a rare glimpse into a period of Indo-Persian history during the late 19th Century.”
Sydney’s first Persian-owned carpet business was founded in 1952 by Jacques Cadry (1910–2003), who had been born into a Jewish family in the trade and came to Australia from Tehran, Iran. For 70 years, Cadrys Rugs has been at the forefront of introducing Australian designers and artists, including Florence Broadhurst, to the unique craftsmanship of Persian rugs.
Prof. Khosronejad adds:
“Persian Dorokhsh carpets revived ancient textile-making traditions in Khorassan, a region renowned for woven art, and transformed the nomadic craft of carpet-weaving into a specialised artisan industry.”
Exceptional Persian artefacts from the Cadry family’s expansive collection and a selection of objects they have donated to the Powerhouse are also being displayed at the exhibition.
This enables a whole new generation of enthusiastic and curious audiences to experience stories and folk traditions through eye-catching textile and craft pieces.
Exhibition highlights include four tempera illustrations by Paul Ratzer and an Asfar carpet previously owned by Ratzer and acquired by Jacques Cadry in 1983.
The exhibition (8 September 2022 – 29 January 2023) recognises the Cadry family’s decades of generosity as Powerhouse donors.
