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.