Oversized Antique Persian Kirman Rug BB7420 14'10" × 22'3" $150,000

A late 19th century Persian Kirman (Kerman) antique rug, the slate blue field with an unusual design of graceful elongated stepped cartouches containing precise stylized palmettes and flowerheads within a sand scrolling vine border.

During the sixteenth century, Shah Abbas I reportedly gave antique Kerman rugs for sale embroidered with gold and silver thread as tribute to the Ottoman Court. The fame of these oriental weavings rapidly spread across Western Europe. From the mid sixteenth century through the eighteenth century, the city of Kirman was celebrated for ‘vase’ oversized area rugs, a term deriving from the depiction of vase motifs in many examples woven there.

By the nineteenth century, Kirman was recognized for exceptional oriental rugs in the best Persian tradition. Antique Persian carpets of this period, especially the Lavar group woven in the town of Ravar, are known for their fine weave, delicate drawing, incomparable range of color, and are still much in demand today.