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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.

NOOOOOO.... I see now the viewing time was today until two. The auction starts at 10am tomorrow! Oh well

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??

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!

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

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?

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

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.

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/