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.)

Expensive Rug Ever Sold

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

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