Ex Baroda ruler's rare pearl carpet auctioned for $5.5 million
20 Mar 2009
An 18th century pearl carpet of Baroda - the world's most expensive rug - made for the maharaja of Baroda, Khande Rao Gaekwad, as a gift for the tomb of the Prophet Mohammad at Medina in Saudi Arabia, went under hammer at a Sotheby's auction in Doha yesterday for $5.5 million
Courtsey: sothebys.com |
This priceless carpet, known as the 'Pearl Carpet of Baroda', valued at Rs6 million when made in 1865, was commissioned by India's maharaja of Baroda, who wanted the carpet to drape it over the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina in a way Mughal Empress Mumtaz Mahal's tomb is draped at the Taj Mahal in Agra.
Although auctioneer Sotheby's had put a starting bid price of around $5 million originally, it was expecting as much as $20 million for it, the global economic crisis seems to have made the wealthy tighten their purse strings. Since there were only three bidders, the starting price was brought down to $4.5 million.
An anonymous buyer bought the Baroda pearl carpet for $5.5 million setting record for a carpet sold in an auction. Last year a 400-year old Persian Isfahan carpet was auctioned by Christie's in New York for $4.45 million.
The 5-foot-8-inch by 8-foot-8-inch carpet has never appeared at an auction before, although it was exhibited in 1902-03 at an exhibition held Delhi displaying the wealth of the maharajas and was once again showcased in the landmark 1985 exhibition of India at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Courtsey: sothebys.com |
The design of the work echoes many of the details found in Safavid and Mughal carpet designs with dense fields of swirling flowering vines that form a deconstructed series of three Mughal-style arches.
The centre of attraction are the three large round 'rosettes' each made of table-cut diamonds set in silvered gold at the centre of the carpet with smaller diamond rosettes in the border, all of which are embellished with precious stones like sapphires, rubies and emeralds set in gold.
sothebys.com |
The carpet was in India till 1940 but in 1943, the then King of Baroda, Pratap Singh Gaikwad, married Maharani Sita Devi and took the carpet along with them, when they moved to Monte Carlo in Monaco neighbouring southern France.
In 1947, when India gained Independence and the princely state of Baroda meged with the Indian Union, the Indian government was shocked to find that the Baroda treasury was empty.
They forced Pratap Singh Gaikwad to bring back a number of valuables, which he did but kept the Baroda pearl carpet and many of the jewels, which Maharani Sita Devi had promptly transferred to her name and had had them reset at the famous jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels's New York and Paris outlets.
Courtsey: sothebys.com |