The most expensive Persian rug ever sold, a beautiful Persian Kerman, sold for nearly $34 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York City on June 2013.
First Half 17th century
More than tripling the previous record price paid for a rug, the amazing piece that sold today at Sotheby’s is a fantastic work of art of the highest order. Shattering pre-auction estimates and all records for the highest prices ever fetched for rugs, the sale of this magnificent Kerman marks something of a watershed moment, as antique rugs become an ever more desirable commodity and establish a very firm footing in the highest rungs of the art world.
Vase carpets such as this piece are extraordinarily desirable, a fact that was only underscored by the tremendous price fetched by this impressive carpet today. Approximately 8ft. 9in. by 6ft. 5in. (2.67 by 1.96m.)
Exhibited
- DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Carpets for the Great Shah, October 3 – NOV 16, 1948
- DC, The Textile Museum, From Persia’s Ancient Looms, January 23 – SEP 30, 1972
- New York, Asia House Gallery, Shah ‘Abbas & the Arts of Isfahan, OCT 11 – December 2, 1973
- Cambridge, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
- Isfahan, JAN 19 – FEB 24, 1974
- Sheffield, Mappin Art Gallery, Carpets of Central Persia, 1976; also travelled to Birmingham; City Museum and Art Gallery
- DC, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The William A. Clark Collection, APR 26 – JUL 16, 1978
- London, Hayward Gallery, The Eastern Carpet in the Western World, May 20 – JUL 10, 1983
- DC, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, The World at our Feet. A Selection of Carpets from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, ARP 4 – JUL 6, 2003
- DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Masterpieces: European Arts from the Collection, AUG 25, 2007 – JAN 6, 2008
Source: Sothebys.com
