Last week, the world’s most expensive carpet was sold at auction: at a $30 million hammer price (this goes up to $33,765,000 with Sotheby’s commission). This price was more than triple the previous record for a rug, and almost five times the high pre-auction estimate of cost. If you want to see the bidding war in action, click here for a video (the best bit is at 1.40 when the auctioneer is at $16M, but says $16,000 before correcting herself – “Hello! Excuse me, I’m not used to this”.
The rug has curling, split and serrated lancet or “sickle”-leaves encircling horizontal and angled palmettes, and is called the “Clark-Corcoran sickle-leaf carpet”. The sickles are a Safavid version of the Ottoman saz – as can be seen in two Ottoman carpets (Cairene: click here and here), and another Safavid carpet (click here) in the same sale.
AU Pope described the Clark-Corcoran sickle-leaf as “one of the outstanding examples of Persian carpet weaving”, and thought it was likely to be one half of a mirrored design, so creating a carpet of more typical long and narrow Safavid proportions. Pope also suggested that the format meant it was woven for a throne dais or takht, with thethrone, and carpet, placed against a wall at one end so the Shah seemed to be sitting in the middle of a great carpet.
Beattie also notes how the carpet can be viewed from either end. Whether or not this carpet was woven for a dais, the scale adds to the dramatic impact: the design elements are barely contained within its boundaries.
A snip at $33 million
I had to share at least a picture of the world’s most expensive Persian rug with you all – after last week’s sale of the Clark-Corcoran sickle leaf. This is named after Senator William Clark, “the richest man west of the Mississippi” in the 1890s. Apparently no-one attempted to compete with his buying power in his lifetime – though, of course, the American sanctions on Iranian carpets might have complicated things if he’d wanted to buy it last week.
These sorts of prices (another carpet went for $4.6M) mean that none of us are likely to see the carpets except in a picture. Even the auctioneer was overwhelmed: confusing $16M with $16,000 part way through the sale (click here to see a video of the bidding war – listen out at 1.40 for her confusion)
Best wishes to all of you!
Caroline