Safavid prayer rug brings $4.34M at Sotheby's

Sotheby's sells Safavid prayer rug for $4.34M

Thu Oct 8, 2009 5:36PM

 “The price of £2.7 million, many multiples of the top estimate, is a testament to the quality and rarity of this stunning piece which was the highlight of our Arts of the Islamic World sale today in London," said Sotheby's Head of the Middle East and India Department, Edward Gibbs.

The Sotheby's Auction House has sold an exquisite Safavid rug for $4.34M dollars in the British capital of London.

The early 17th century silk and metal-thread prayer rug was purchased by an anonymous buyer for over 20 times the pre-sale estimate, Artdaily reported.

The inscriptions on the rug suggest that it might have been a diplomatic gift on the occasion of the Peace Treaty between the Safavid king, Shah Abbas, and the Ottoman Sultan, Murad III.

“The sale of the Safavid rug for $4.34M is indicative of the astonishing interest in the most rare, one-in-the-world, Near Eastern rugs that art connoisseurs and collectors are avidly seeking out,"..

The rug was part of Sotheby's Arts of the Islamic World sale that totaled £7.9 million.

British Museum to explore Safavid Iran

British Museum to explore Safavid Iran

Fri Jan 9, 2009 2:57PM

Shah Abbas I

The British Museum is scheduled to mount an exhibition exploring the rule and legacy of the influential Safavid king, Shah Abbas I.

The event, to be held in February 2009, will exhibit items from the Iran Heritage Foundation, Europe and the US.

Gold-ground carpets, Chinese porcelains, illustrated manuscripts, watercolor paintings, metalwork will be displayed at the event along with objects similar to those donated by Shah Abbas to religious sites in Iran.

Sheikh Safi mausoleum, Ardabil, Iran

Calligraphy works by the renowned Safavid artist Ali-Reza Abbasi will also be displayed at the exhibition, artdaily reported.

The four-section event will explore four key sites which were transformed or embellished during the reign of Shah Abbas.

Isfahan: The New Capital will focus on the historical city of Isfahan as the Safavid king's capital and main administrative city.

Ardabil: The Ancestral Shrine will introduce the city where the 14th-century Sufi mystic and Shah Abbas' ancestor, Sheikh Safi has been laid to rest.

The king renovated the Sheikh Safi mausoleum and donated valuable porcelains, lamps and manuscripts to the shrine.

Mashhad: The Tomb of the Martyred Imam will explore the northeastern city of Mashhad where the shrine of Imam Reza (PBUP), the 8th Shia Imam stands.

Shah Abbas walked in pilgrimage to the shrine from Isfahan and donated furnishings, exquisite Qur'ans and scientific Arabic manuscripts.

Qom: Studying the Faith will focus on the city of Qom where the sister of Imam Reza (PBUH) Fatima Masoumeh (PBUP) has been laid to rest.

Shah abbas devoted special attention to the site near the end of his reign. His successors donated silk brocades, calligraphy and manuscripts to the holy shrine.

The exhibition will be the third in a series of events examining different empires around the world. The First Emperor of China and the Roman emperor Hadrian were the focus of the first two exhibitions.

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the exhibition has been based on the research conducted by the British Museum's Dr Sheila Canby and Professor Robert Gleave from Exeter University.

Shah Abbas, who ruled Iran from 1587 - 1629 CE, is known as one of the country's most influential kings, who greatly contributed to the country's art.

Numerous monuments were restored and dozens of others were built by Shah Abbas, which still dazzle visitors with their stunning architecture.

US to exhibit Safavid gifts to Russia

US to exhibit Safavid gifts to Russia

Fri Apr 10, 2009 3:39PM

Safavid rug

The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is slated to hold an exhibition of gifts offered by Ottomans and Safavids to the tsars of imperial Russia.

The Tsars and the East: Gifts from Turkey and Iran in The Moscow Kremlin will display some 65 gifts and tributes presented to tsars by Turkish and Iranian embassies, diplomatic missions, and trade delegations between the 16th and 17th centuries.

Iranian fabrics, arms and armor will form a major part of the exhibition, which will be held from May 9 to September 13, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

Visitors will be able to see lavish gifts such as rare arms and armor, jeweled ceremonial vessels and regalia intended for the Russian court or the Orthodox Church, stirrups with pearls, golden bridles with turquoises and rubies, and saddles covered with velvet and silk.

A gold-inlaid early 16th-century Iranian shield, acquired by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich in 1622 upon the death of Prince Fedor Ivanovich Mistislavsky, is one of the many exquisite items to be displayed at the event.

Organized by the Smithsonian Institution's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in collaboration with The Moscow Kremlin Museums, the event will exhibit some of Kremlin's finest artworks for the first time in the US.

"These are rare, one-of-a-kind objects, which have been carefully preserved in the Kremlin treasury. Most have not been seen outside Russia until now," asia.si.edu quoted chief curator and curator of Islamic art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Massumeh Farhad as saying.

Ottoman and Safavid diplomats and merchants also offered lavish gifts in the hopes of currying favor with the tsar.

"Merchants played an important role in the diplomatic embassies of the period, much like today's ambassadors," said Farhad.

"They understood that a gift to the tsar was intended not only to impress and flatter, but to aid in negotiating a good deal between trading partners."

Sweden to host 2011 ICOC

Sweden to host 2011 ICOC

Sat Apr 2, 2011 4:45PM GMT

The 'Marby' rug is one of the earliest surviving Turkish carpets found in the Church of Marby near Jamtland, Sweden.

Sweden will hold the 2011 International Conference on Oriental Carpets, hosting expert collectors, scholars and dealers from around the world in Stockholm.

The 12th edition of the event, due to be held from June 16 to 19, 2011, will include educational lectures by international experts, the International Dealers' Fair and several exhibitions of rugs and textiles from private collections.

Participants will enjoy a special exhibition of rare Turkmen carpets in different museums and the Royal Palace.

The famous 'Marby' rug, 17th-century Transylvanian rugs, 'Polonaise' carpets, colorful 18th century Swedish folk art textiles, and the world-renowned Safavid silk, velvet coat belonging to Queen Christina will be part of the pieces which will be displayed during the exhibitions.

The annual event will include a pre-conference tour to Copenhagen on June 14 and 15, which will feature the new installation of the David Collection, one of the finest collections of Islamic Art in Europe.

The collection includes a small Mamluk rug, a large Seljuk carpet, a 'Salting' rug, an early Persian Safavid carpet and early Islamic textiles, as well as many outstanding European works of art.

This year's post-Conference tour will be in St. Petersburg, Russia from June 20 to 23, where participants will get the chance to see many famous carpets and textiles in the storage rooms of the world famous Hermitage Museum.

The Russian Museum of Ethnography will also open the doors of its storage areas and hold a special rug exhibition, organized by its renowned former curator, Dr. Elena Tsareva exclusively for the ICOC tour group.

The first International Conference on Oriental Carpets was held in London in 1976. Since then different cities around the world have hosted the annual event holding landmark exhibitions in the fields of carpet and textile art.

ICOC has also sponsored regional conferences in Baku, Istanbul, Leningrad, Marrakech and Tehran.