Contextualising the 2013 Auction Record for Antique Carpets
At Kermanshah Gallery, we monitor the ceiling of the market to understand structural shifts in collector capital. The primary benchmark for the trade was established over a decade ago when a 17th-century Persian piece reset auction expectations.
The Clark Sickle-Leaf Carpet achieved a price of $33.7 million at Sotheby's in New York [1]. Prior to this sale, the market's high watermark sat significantly lower. The previous record price for a carpet was $9.6 million for a Persian carpet sold by Christie's in London in April 2010 [2].
This transaction confirmed the presence of deep liquidity for antique textiles. The final price for the Clark Sickle-Leaf Carpet was more than three times the previous auction record for a carpet [3].
The top tier of the market is characterised by extreme scarcity. Carpets with institutional provenance rarely circulate. We advise clients to view such auction results as historical markers rather than typical market trajectories. Our focus remains on securing textiles with clear structural integrity, distinct provenance, and serious academic merit for the gallery register.