Classic handmade Persian rugs comprise Jasper52 online auction May 21

 

NEW YORK – Hand-knotted rugs and carpets have been used as floor coverings since the Bronze Age (between 4000 and 3000 B.C.). Through the ages civilization has developed nothing that can compare to the beauty, warmth and comfort that handmade rugs add to a home. Jasper52 will conduct an online auction of handmade rugs ranging in age from antique to modern on Sunday, May 21. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

Leading this 116-lot offering is large Persian Tabriz (above), circa 1890, having an overall leaf design on a red background. This stunning 9-by-16-foot antique rug – fresh from an estate – is expected to sell for $10,500-$14,000.

As exquisite but without quite the age is a fine Persian Isfahan Serafian carpet (below) woven between 1960 and 1990. This intricate masterpiece, which features Kurk wool pile on a silk foundation, would have taken two skilled weavers two to three years to complete. It is in superb condition and measures approximately 7 by 10 feet (est. $6,900-$9,200).

 

 

Anyone searching for a long gallery-size rug needn’t look farther than the 19th-century Persian Ferahan example in Sunday’s Jasper52 auction. The rug, which exhibits a fine classic design in terra-cotta red, measures approximately 8 by 23 feet (est. $7,350-$9,800).

 

 

Rugs from Nain, a desert city in central Iran, are among the finest hand-knotted examples produced in modern times. It would take many months or even several years for a master weaver to complete a single Nain rug, depending on the fineness of knots and size. The knots in Nain rug contain some 250-500 knots or more per square inch. Two such rugs are featured in the Jasper52 auction on Sunday. These rugs are woven with the Persian symmetrical knot and are constructed of wool and silk mixture pile woven on cotton foundation. Nain neighbors Isfahan, and for this reason the designs follow the famous Isfahan, influenced by Shah Abbas design. They usually include skillfully drawn flowers, foliage and vines.

Most often woven in blue and beige and shades of brown, Nain rugs are seldom found in red. This gorgeous example, approximately 9 by 13 feet, has a $15,225-$20,300 estimate.

 

 

A blue Nain rug (below) exhibiting a classic design measures approximately 11 by 14 feet (est. $20,355-$27,140). These two Nain rugs were not machine-made; they were hand-knotted in Iran.

 

 

Moving on to Europe, the Jasper52 auction also features a fabulous needlepoint rug, 12 by 7 feet, made in 1920. Featuring a scene of a lady and a shepherd and his flock, the work is estimated at $6,000-$8,000.

 

 

The Jasper52 online-only auction begins Sunday, May 21, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.