I have just described for Sotheby’s two items for their June sale. One is a chalice with Armenian inscription, the other is an Islamic candle-holder with Armenian inscription. The first is definitely Armenian – the style, its use, its decoration and its Armenian inscription confirm this beyond doubt. The candle-holder is Islamic by its design, by its use. However it has an inscription in Armenian. Is it an Armenian art work? Definitively not. Could the sponsor be an Armenian wealthy person? Definitively yes. Could the craftsman be an Armenian? Definitively yes.
When I was acting as consultant for Christie’s and the head of the Islamic section then was Prof. John Carswell, I persuaded him to put art works with Armenian inscriptions in the Islamic and Ottoman sales under a sub-heading “Armenian Art“. This is what is required. Armenian craftsmen worked for several nations and peoples, in each case producing works of art according to the artistic traditions of the sponsors. A good example of such an accomplished artist is Abraham Kuthayetsi (examples of his works adorn the Ottoman section in the British Museum). In the exhibits are works which he did for Armenian sponsors and there are works which he did for Ottoman sultans. This is what makes Armenians great (not the fact that Armenians were massacred in 1915).
Coming to Aivazovsky - he is an artist of the Russian school. Most of his great paintings (6000) were done for the Russian Imperial court. For a short period he was employed by the sultans in the Imperial Ottoman Court, where he painted the portraits for most of the Ottoman sultans. After 1906 shocked by the treatment of the Armenians, he devoted a number of canvasses to the massacres of Sassoun (See my National Gallery of Armenia, translated into English by Vrej Nersessian, Paris, 1992). After the independence of Armenia this was the first major work I did in English to promote the Armenian National Gallery in Yerevan.
To have influence on these major institutions you need to have internationally renowned experts working in internationally renowned institutions. The most accomplished artists in the Ottoman Turkey were Armenians (architects, silversmiths rug weavers, textiles, ceramics, the entire Turkish theatre - see Treasures from the Ark). In the most recent issue of Ars Orientalis 40 2011 the journal of the Smithsonian Institution, I have an extensive article on the famous ‘The Marcy-Indjoudjian cope’ ( Շուրջառ) described as ‘one of the most remarkable works of art in existence’ by A.F.Kendrick and C.E.C. Tattersall (Fine Carpets, 1924) exhibited in the Islamic gallery of the Victoria and Albert Museum to be of Armenian origin. The cope was until recently was attributed Catholic provenance. The cope is the work of Armenian weavers, for use by an Armenian Patriarch, and has an Armenian inscription which had remained hidden from view and hence un-deciphered.
I will here recall an incident. When my exhibition of Treasures from the Ark opened in the British Library in 2001, I had the task of taking round the exhibition the Turkish Ambassador. When he had seen the exhibition, particularly the magnificent ceramics with Armenian inscriptions and the Encyclicals which the Sultans of Ottoman Empire had issued to the Armenian Patriarchs of Jerusalem, he turned round to me and to the Director of the British Library and said ‘would the Library contemplate setting up a similar exhibition on Ottoman Turkey? ” Their dream was fulfilled several years later with an exhibition called "Turks. A Journey of Thousand Years, 600-1600", Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2004. The Forewords to the Catalogue were signed by Tony Blair and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.