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Late 16th century Khorasan 'Paradise Park' carpet

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10 November 2005

The auction market in Persian classical carpets goes from strength to strength. At Sotheby's New York on 3 November 2005, the Michaelian 16th/17th century Khorasan animal and tree carpet, lot 160 in the well-promoted single-owner sale of 'Property from the Collections of Lily and Edmond J. Safra', fetched a massive $2,032,000, almost three times the high end of its $500-700,000 estimate spread. This is one of the highest prices ever paid for an oriental carpet of any type at auction, second only to the $2,490,540 paid by the Islamic Art Museum of Qatar at Christie's in London in July 1999 for the Rothschild Tabriz medallion carpet. It is not known who purchased the Khorasan carpet, which is in excellent condition for its age, but Sotheby's after-sale press release tells of three anonymous telephone bidders, so it is most likely to be a private collector rather than a trade or institutional buyer.

When last seen at SNY in November 1980, consigned by the Estate of the late Frank M. Michaelian, this gloriously colourful jufti-knotted east Persian carpet, with its exceptionally decorative, dense, small-scale all-over design, was still conventionally catalogued (by the Metropolitan Museum's Curator Emertius Maurice Dimand) as a northwest Persian (Tabriz) carpet of the Shah Tahmasp period (1524-76). At the time it made $198,000, by no means an excessive price for a type less well understood in those distant days, (HALI 3/3, p.252), but less than a tenth of its price a quarter of a century later.

The Safra sale, spread in four sessions over three days, was a resounding success, yielding a total of almost $50 million, with 95% of lots sold. Top lot was a Louis XVI ebony and ormolu bureau, which fetched a world record $4.7 million. Next highest was the Safavid carpet. The Fabergé and other Russian works of art in the first session also did particularly well, yielding a total of almost $13 million, while in subsequent sessions, a number of of 19th century Persian decorative carpets also performed far above reasonable expectations.

Of these carpets, the most expensive four lots had, like the Khorasan, been purchased by the Safras at SNY in early November 1980. Lot 418, a large, colourless, small-scale all-over design Tabriz, fetched $192,000 against a $30-40,000 estimate. The same sum, against a slightly higher estimate of $60-80,000, was achieved by lot 436, a dark-ground scrolling arabesque design 'Mohtashem' Kashan with a Safavid-style strapwork border. The $100,000 barrier was also breached by lot 437 (estimate $40-60,000), a shrub and arabesque design Tabriz which had been deaccessioned at SNY by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1980 for $40,700. This time it sold for $108,000. The century mark was also passed by lot 435, another Kashan, red-ground with an overall cartouche design field (estimate $40-60,000), which made $102,000.

Other Safra oriental carpet lots of note include lot 433, a large classical period red-ground Esfahan, reduced in length and very damaged, which was one of the seven ex-Wildenstein Esfahans sold from the Akram Ojjeh Collection in Monaco in June 1979. It fetched $48,000 against a $15-20,000 estimate.

Finally, the sale also included two relatively rare Aubusson pile weavings: lot 145, a Charles X period (ca.1820-25) medallion carpet, deacquisitioned at SNY by the Getty Museum in Malibu in December 1986, which sold above high estimate ($80-120,000) for $144,000, while lot 434, a gallery carpet of the Regence period (ca. 1745-50), with an orientalised palmette and cloudband design, previously sold from the Patino Collection of French furniture at SNY in November 1986, made $51,000 (estimate $20-30,000).

The Safra sale, which set a world record total yield for a furniture and decorative arts auction, was a triumph for the auctioneers and a very, very pleasing result for Mrs Safra. Judging by the number of pieces which were originally acquired at Sotheby's New York, it also shows the value of long-term customer loyalty.