A glimpse of a collection of rugs and carpets that will bring Persia to Bangalore in an auction to be held on Monday.
The assumption is always that old carpets, rugs and tapestry end up being either fed on by moths or in some dusty unwanted stack. To rescue them from this inevitable cliché of decay, Bid & Hammer (B&H) has organised a first-of-its-kind auction in Bangalore on Monday.
The auction will see 120 such ‘antiques’ go under the hammer. And while estimates for the pieces from Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Turkey start from Rs15,000 and go up to Rs12 lakh, many expect the auction to collect much more.
As many as 99 of the items being auctioned are from the collection of corporate honcho Danny Mehra, who says he’s had a hard time deciding on which ones of his some hundred “babies” he should let go off.
“I lived in the US for 26 years and would be a regular at auctions organised by firms like Bonhams and Le Ambassadeurs. I have bought most of my stuff from them.”
Art historian Seema Bhalla who was at a preview of the lots said, “Finally we have a chance to spread awareness among people about what real carpets are. Too many people confuse factory-made floor-covers for carpets. How can assembly line products match loving, hand-woven expressions of art?” Bhalla adds that even though carpets and rugs have found admirers in the West, Central Asia and Persia have always been the cradle of carpet weaving.
“These would not only be used on floors and to sleep on, but also to line the walls of the tents by tribal nomads who were trying to protect themselves from the weather outside. The arrival of Islam helped bring in a religious element to the works as demand for prayers rugs grew,” she explains.
“Traditional weavers,” she goes on to add, “were usually women who gathered to share stories as worked their looms. Their desires and aspirations find expression in their patterns. Unlike the latter day masculinist designs when men brought symbols of power and war to their work, the designs by women talk of conservation and nurture.”
She cites the example of a Kurd rug from 1910. “Despite the desert conditions around her, this woman must have hoped for a life of abundance for her children. The tree of life emblem with the greenery clearly shows what she dreamt of.”
The costliest article on offer is a Safavid dynasty imperial court 14ft x 9 ft carpet. Dating back to 1650, it is finely handspun in Himlayan silk and inscribed with animal, palmette and cloudband designs.
“This one is from the Rockfeller collection in the US and its pair — known as the Emperor’s carpet — is now with the Museum fur Angewandte Kunst at Vienna, which acquired it for Rs2.75 crores. Both these are considered the greatest of all Oriental carpets,” explains B & H CMD Maher Dadha.
Gaj Singh II, the Maharaja of Jodhpur, knows a thing or two about royalty and emperors. The member of B&H’s advisory panel says, “I am very keen to learn how collectors respond to this specialist auction. Efforts like these can go a long way in developing Indian auctions above and beyond paintings.”
Enquiries have already begun pouring in from all over the world. “The response from royal families in the Persian Gulf is particularly amazing. Whether UAE, Kuwait or Qatar there seems to be a growing realisation about the value of these rugs and carpets as symbols of Islamic culture,” reveals Dadha’s son Ankush, who is handling the many enquiries.
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