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Absolutely Divine
KrowGyrl Offline
#1 Posted : Monday, June 2, 2008 1:38:18 PM(UTC)
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http://tinyurl.com/46uk9v


Submitted for your delight. I saw this rug today at the Christie's showroom at Rockefeller Center. These pictures show absolutely nothing of the joy and miracle of this rug. You can read the description for yourself, and you know what that all means better even than do I. Except I saw it! First, it absolutely dances with whimsical beauty that is neither naive nor innocent. Rather it reflects the exquisite beauty and mystery of nature itself. It is laid out on a clear acrylic support so that you can walk fully around it and look down upon it. It sits in the central viewing hall that boasts skylights and light that falls from above, much like the great cathedrals or Hagia Sophia. But the uncanny magic that takes place as you move about, is that each different inch from which you view the surface, reveals a wholly different and distinct color and balance palatte. If this were not enough, there are places where the light falls and reveals completely different color schemes, and yet when you look at the same exact sport from another angle, or another, or another, you see completely different marvels that the eye cannot believe possible to achieve merely with angle of eye and light.

But this is nothing compared to the staggering effect that the light plays upon the silver and gold threads in the silk on silk weave. ebem though it has lost a good portion of any pile it may have had, the way the light catches the field, from different angles, causes a pool or shimmering irridescent platinum sheen to cirtually jump from the surface of the rug. Move an inch to the right or left, and this is obscured or veiled by the absence of the mystery of light. As you move about the carpet, it's like moving throughout the day in the space of a few moments, as light is revealed, obscured, and revealed again. I am absolutely transformed by seeing this miracle. Honored even. And it serves me as an illustration of what I have read about for so long, the genius of the height of Islamic commentary on the order and beauty of the universe. Looking at this carpet, glancing around at the wheel heeled staff and the Madison Avenue swells ooing and ahing, I felt that we were, all of us, shame-faced neanderthals, and out culture, even that of the glass and steel monolithic pyramids and bee hives o fmidtown Manhattan, nothing short of paleolithic. I only wish that the Metropolitan museum or some such institution would purchase this wonder and display it for many to see.
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RugPro Offline
#2 Posted : Monday, June 2, 2008 4:05:20 PM(UTC)
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excellent impressions, really interesting to read, and I completely agree, it's nothing less than incredible to think what this rug has survived and how we now see it presented to us. The Met does have some rugs, although the exhibit is closed through 2009.

This rug you linked to for auction, are all these rugs available for viewing? How long does the viewing go for?
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#3 Posted : Monday, June 2, 2008 4:19:40 PM(UTC)
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NOOOOOO.... I see now the viewing time was today until two. The auction starts at 10am tomorrow! Oh well
KrowGyrl Offline
#4 Posted : Monday, June 2, 2008 4:20:21 PM(UTC)
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Today was the last day for the viewing. The auction is tomorrow morning at 10:00. I just can't say enough about this piece. It's truly special and unique. As wonderful as all the other rugs on view were, thi one was like some captive fairy princess. Way beyond just the apex of carpet design and craftsmanship.
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#5 Posted : Tuesday, June 3, 2008 10:46:52 AM(UTC)
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OUTSTANDING!!!! Krow, the rug sold for almost 4 fold the estimate. You're so lucky to have seen it, that's auction history. Did you happen to capture any photographs??
KrowGyrl Offline
#6 Posted : Tuesday, June 3, 2008 11:00:09 AM(UTC)
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No, I didn't thik there was any photographing possible. No one else was in there photographing. Although it was interesting to see the crowd, a small crowd in there going over everything. It went for $4,450,500. Worth every penny. I got the catalog and went to the auction results and compared what these pieces realized compared to the estimates. That's VERY interesting. Most were in range, but a few went way over. I need to puruse all this more carefully. I love this!
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#7 Posted : Tuesday, June 3, 2008 11:08:57 AM(UTC)
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It is incredible. What I wonder is this rug has been in a private collection for so long, you wonder what kind of attention has been given to keeping it in the best condition possible. Obviously it's in outstanding condition as it was seen online. When you saw it in person, was it preserved in any way? mounted on some sort of fabric and board? If I'm understanding correctly, this rug has been in different private collections for most of it's life - I wonder who purchased it, and if the 4.45mil includes premium. that alone is a hefty hit!
KrowGyrl Offline
#8 Posted : Tuesday, June 3, 2008 11:22:38 AM(UTC)
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It's pretty much threadbare in most places. It's missing what you can tell must have been its platinum moon colored "fur" pile. I use the word fur intentionally, as it looks like illustrations you see of enchanted Siberian tigers. And this is what I mean, even threadbare it still did it's magic ..... un-B-lievable.
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#9 Posted : Tuesday, June 3, 2008 11:29:19 AM(UTC)
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Silk becomes incredibly brittle after *just* 100 years, I'm surprised this rug is still in one piece. I almost feel like e-mailing this link to some of these ebay sellers that advertise their rugs as "museum quality" lol
KrowGyrl Offline
#10 Posted : Tuesday, June 3, 2008 12:03:15 PM(UTC)
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I almost feel like e-mailing this link to some of these ebay sellers that advertise their rugs as "museum quality" lol >>>

That would be a scream! Sounds like we have the same twisted sense of humor. It would be interesting to see if anybody caught it. Ask if they could give you an estimate ... :)
RugPro Offline
#11 Posted : Tuesday, June 3, 2008 12:48:52 PM(UTC)
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haha. I look at this rug and I have a thousand questions about it. How long was it used for, who was it made for, how many families did it pass through. I guess that's just another element of the mystery of some of these rugs, even carpets made within the last century. The art with few credited artists....

Oh, speaking of few credited "artists," I'd be interested to hear what your prof. says about Hadji Jalili rugs.... Remember this was a topic several months back?
KrowGyrl Offline
#12 Posted : Tuesday, June 3, 2008 4:26:46 PM(UTC)
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I'd be interested to hear what your prof. says about Hadji Jalili rugs.... Remember this was a topic several months back? >>>

I do indeed recall. I have done a fair amount of reading about the 9th-17th century in the Islamic world, enough to know that the multidimensional attention to detail, both visual, intellectual, and symbolic/subliminal, was/is unsurpassed. And this applied to the features of high culture as well. I just envision a room where this carpet would be appropriate, how the people were dressed, the architecture, the music, and the conversations, oh yes, the conversations. :)
KrowGyrl Offline
#13 Posted : Wednesday, June 4, 2008 11:35:54 AM(UTC)
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What is also interesting about that auction yesterday, is I took the catalog and jotted dow the price each one realized along side its projected range.

85/122 sold

3/85 = sold below projected range but not by a lot. They were all less pricey to begin with

37/85 - within projected range

21/85 - above projected range

21/85 - way above projected range

(I know the numbers don't add up, I must have skipped some when I went over the results site. But you see the trends.)

The onea that went way over were interesting to see. I'd like to know more about why.

Total sales for the auction, $6,016,500, of which 4.5 million was the Isfehan silk
RugPro Offline
#14 Posted : Thursday, June 5, 2008 8:20:03 AM(UTC)
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That is interesting. Take a look at this I'd be curious if there is a way to find out what the estimates were online (not fortunate enough to have the auction catalogue). For a while Dave had been doing this, I recently started helping out on it. They're doing a 2008 price guide for Persian Rugs by accumulating as much data on auction rugs as possible, and plugging them into excel. The best way as of right now is to find out the per square foot price, which is usually how wholesale operates.

Do you know off hand if the prices include the buyer's premium?
KrowGyrl Offline
#15 Posted : Thursday, June 5, 2008 8:50:34 AM(UTC)
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Don't know for sure about the premium. Two people said a final realized price includes premium. I will ask tonight in class. The Christies site had the estimate range on each carpet prior to the sale. If you want, I could make up a list by lot and the range of each prior to the sale and you can compare to the site and the realized price. It would probably take about 10 minutes. I am in the city today and would have do it later tonight.
RugPro Offline
#16 Posted : Thursday, June 5, 2008 8:56:38 AM(UTC)
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thats a really awesome offer, I would take you up on it but it seems like it would be a little of a pain Brick wall . If you are up to it, that would be awesome, if not, believe me I completely understand.
KrowGyrl Offline
#17 Posted : Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:29:12 AM(UTC)
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Nope, not a pain. I like this stuff too. And I would not have offered if I didn't want to or it was too much. I'm not THAt nice! :d/
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#18 Posted : Tuesday, January 6, 2009 10:23:40 PM(UTC)
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Hi, I am Newbie; just posted War and Peace odyssey in the Wut the F is this ugly? forum.

I am entirely unsophisticated within this arcane arena, but seeing the incredible antique rugs whose hammer prices were classic Gordon Gekko. I would like to say I adore the AMRITSAR CARPET.....subtle, rich in nuance, acuity of focus honed by love, not commerce, ethereal, transporting.....far too many truncated humans have become strangeed from all these capacities over time;

I also liked the pomegranates and the ramshorns. I like anachronistic, classic symbolism well rendered.
I esp enjoyed the lack of cynicism that marked all the lots. The ingenuousness, the purity. Remember, sophistication etymologically works back to loss of innocence. And one need not be a pundit academically within an esoteric realm to get the essence of anything clearly, viscerally. The hard data owned by the right individual.....augments.

Doris Duke again! Even within her personal & perpetual angst, dysfunction and issues......she knew joy. Albeit it re inanimate objects. And it essentially owed little to the dead Presidents.....tho those sure helped her amalgamate her own personal nirvana comprising those. Apparently, Ms. Duke ownen the more precious form of currency as well as being famous for the more commonly lusted after.

Neighbor down the hall is curator of Asian artifacts at Christies. I was staggered to realize over time, she has no real eye intuitively, instinctually, differentially. In ANYTHING. She is capable academic....and in most ways, impoverished.Think LIFE is infinitely fascinating, yes?

Again, Proust: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." But some things can not be taught.

Thanks for that link and the subsequent comments.Applause

Jill



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