The most expensive rug ever sold in the world

An Ancient Persian Rug once owned by American billionaire breaks record, selling for $33.7m or $600k per square foot.
It went for THREE TIMES the previous record for a carpet sale Exquisite handwoven carpet is more than 360 years old. Was bought by industrialist William Clark in Paris in early 1900’s Carpet was sold at Sotheby’s to raise money for museum.
A Persian Rug from the early 17th century sold for $33.7 million in New York City at roughly $600,000 per square foot.
Sotheby’s auction house said Wednesday’s price for the Clark Sickle-Leaf Carpet was more than three times the previous auction record for a carpet.
The Sickle-Leaf Carpet sold to an anonymous telephone bidder.
Tidy pile: This ancient Persian rug, which dates back to the 1650s, sold for an incredible $33.7 million at Sotheby’s in New York
Tidy pile: This Ancient Rug, which dates back to the 1650s, sold for an incredible $33.7 million at Sotheby’s in New York
The exquisite handwoven carpet is more than 360 years old and measures 8ft 9ins by 6ft 5ins. It sold for $33,765,000, or about $601,380.34 per square foot.
‘I thought it might sell for 10 or 15 million dollars,’ Mary Jo Otsea, the auctioneer and senior consultant for rugs and carpets at Sotheby’s, told The Washington Post. ‘No one ever expected to see it on the market. Its beauty and rarity — the closest comparable are in museums.’
The intricately woven rug of red, blue and green colors was owned by an American billionaire industrialist who bought it in the early 1900s, and the artifact was donated to a museum after his death in 1925.
Otsea said before the sale: ‘This is a beautiful example of carpet weaving.
‘In my 30 year career, this is the most exciting and important collection that I have dealt with.
The intricately woven carpet of red, blue and green colors was bought by an American billionaire industrialist William Clark in the early 1900’s and was donated to a museum after his death in 1925.
‘The Clark Sickle-Leaf Carpet is without question one of the most iconic and important carpets ever to appear at auction.
‘It was made during the Safavid dynasty in Persia in the 1650s and made by several weavers at a very sophisticated workshop in south east Persia.
‘It would have been for a noble person as it would have been very expensive to make.
‘William Clark, a billionaire industrialist who also became a senator, purchased it from a dealer in Paris while on a tour of Europe in the early 1900s.
‘He must have hung it because it is in very good condition and is unlikely to have spent much time on the floor.
‘He bequeathed his collection of carpets to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1925 and it is being sold by them for future acquisitions.
‘Carpets of this caliber  don’t come up that often.’
The rug has a wool pile and the foundation is made of cotton and silk.
For sale: The rug, which was made during the Safavid dynasty in Persia was sold at auction by Sotheby’s in New York.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Oriental Rug Dyes. What you need to know.

LARTA antique rugs and textiles fair in London

LARTA at Battersea Park The London Antique Rug & Textile Art Fair (LARTA), the British capital’s sole annual exhibition focused on high-end antique carpets and textiles, takes place on 24-29 January 2017. This year, the fair has a different format with a new location in Battersea Park, as part of the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair. HALI will be present, bringing magazines as well as textile and carpet books.