Famous carpets

Some oriental carpets are famous because of their age, their beauty or because of their price.

The Pazyryk rug is thought to be the oldest known carpet in the world, dating around 5th c. BC, and found in a dry valley of the Altai Mountains in Kazakhstan. It is in the Hermitage Museum’s possession in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Pazyryk carpet
Detail from the Pazyryk carpet. (ICOC St. Petersburg tour)
Detail of the Pazyryk carpet (The Pazyryk)

The Marby rug was found in a Swedish church in Marby and carbon dated to the 14th century.

The Marby rug – an 14th century Anatolian rug.

The most famous Persian carpet is probably the Ardabil Carpet at Victoria and Albert Museum in London. This carpet has a twin at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Ardabil carpets are a woven in Persia and dated 1539-1540.

The Ardabil Carpet – Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Ardabil medallion. Detail of the Ardabil Carpet – Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Another famous Persian carpet is the Coronation Carpet at Los Angeles County Museum of Art made in Persia 1520-1530. This carpet also had a twin, the Bode Animal Carpet but this twin was destroyed in a bomb raid in Berlin in 1945.

The Coronation Carpet – Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The “Salting Carpet” at Victoria and Albert Museum has giving name to a group of Persian “Salting carpets” from the 16th century.

The Salting Carpet. Made in Iran 1560-1580. Bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert Museum by George Salting – Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The most expensive carpet is probably ‘The Clark Sickle-Leaf Carpet’, a 17th century Kerman carpet, sold at Sothebys 5 June 2013 for an exceptional price of $33.8 million.

The Clark Sickle Leaf Carpet sold at Sothebys 5 June 2013 for $33.8 million.