The first Special Carpet Auction held by the National Auction House on Friday, August 26, at Tehran's Khaneh-Hamayesh in north Tehran, generated $8.7 million.
The highest bid went to the carpet titled 'Iranian Paradise' made by weavers from Kashmar, Khorasan Razavi Province. It sold for $4.3 million, almost half of the total sales of the night.
One of the largest hand-woven carpets in the country, 'Iranian Paradise' is a 100 sqm rug, 10 meters by 10 meters, which took ten weavers 14 years to make. One of the most exquisite carpets in the world, it has 110 million knots and weighs about 180 kilograms.
The ancient 'Darab Battle' carpet, made in Tehran almost 110 years ago was sold for $1.8 million followed by 'Sultan Masoud' from Tabriz, which fetched $570,000. Darab is one of the characters in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (Book of Kings) whose battle is depicted on the rug.
'Bahram Gur Hunting', dating back to 150 years ago, woven by Kashan artisans, and 'Eight Cedars', 150 years old from Tabriz, went under the hammer for $370,000 and $350,000 respectively. Bahram Gur was the 15th Sasanian King of Persia (420–438 AD). He is depicted on the rug riding a horse hunting for gazelles accompanied by a group of royal men and women.
Iranian actor and TV host Ahmad Najafi, 67, presented a selection of the 33 hand-woven Persian rugs, kilims (flat tapestry-woven carpets) and framed carpets for sale, IRNA reported.
21 Carpets Sold
The event, attended by veteran actors Jamshid Mashayekhi and Dariush Arjmand, actress Mahtab Keramati as well as the ambassadors of Turkey, Algeria and the UK to Tehran, saw the sale of 21 precious works of arts.
The other carpets were sold for less than $250,000 and the lowest bid went to 'Negarestan' from Qom which was sold for $1700.
The director of the auction, Zahra Mahmoudvand, said that the highest number of carpets for the auction came from the province of Kurdistan and the cities of Isfahan, Kerman, Kashan, Mashhad and Qom.
Following the previous auctions of fine arts including paintings, miniatures, calligraphies, leatherworks, handicrafts and antiques, the National Auction House organized the carpet auction which proved to be more successful than the previous rounds which had fetched $1 million.
Iran is home to one million carpet weavers. Handmade rugs are among Iran’s most important non-oil exports. More than $400 million worth of handmade carpets was exported in the last Iranian calendar year (ended March 19), which accounted for about 25% of the global handmade-rug market. More than 80% of the handmade carpets manufactured in Iran are exported.
