Zaveri & Co. unveils its bangle collection

Zaveri & Co. unveils its bangle collection which is tailor-made for the festive season. This collection is also very apt as a gifting solution.

Post By : IJ News Service On 26 November 2012 4:31 PM
The Pearl Carpet of Baroda will feature as the centerpiece of Sotheby’s sale in Doha, along with other objects in the Arts of the Islamic World auction. The auction is to be held on 19th March 2009. Mary Jo Otsea, Worldwide Director of Rugs and Carpets at Sotheby’s said: “It is fitting that an historic object as magnificent and unique as the Pearl Carpet of Baroda is a major highlight of our inaugural series of auctions in Doha. The carpet has never appeared at auction before and the sale therefore represents an unparalleled opportunity to acquire an extraordinarily significant work of art. I am delighted that Middle Eastern collectors will be able to view this stunning work.” %% The significance of the carpet lies in its historic association, as it is was a gift for the tomb of the Prophet Mohammad in Medina and was commissioned by “Gaekwar” Kande Rao, the Maharaja of Baroda. The intend was clearly never delivered as the Maharaja died before he made the donation and the carpet therefore remained in his family for over 100 years. %% The bids for this piece are likely to begin from US$5 million and rise considerably. This carpet has been crafted with its surface entirely embellished with an estimated two million natural seed pearls, known as “Basra” pearls originally collected in the waters of the Gulf. The design is picked out in coloured glass beads and the whole richly encrusted and embellished with gold set diamonds and precious stones in their hundreds. The design reflects many of the details found in Safavid and Mughal carpet designs with dense fields of swirling flowering vines that here form a deconstructed series of three Mughal-style arches. Parts of the design reflect 18th-century India’s fashionable millefleurs motif. Across the centre there are three large round ‘rosettes’ each made of table cut diamonds set in silvered gold. Further smaller diamond rosettes in the border, all of which are embellished with sapphires, rubies and emeralds set in gold. %% It is widely reported that when the Maharaja commissioned the work, his intent was to create a carpet that would be suitable for the tomb of the Prophet Mohammad in Medina, and in this sense cover the tomb in a way that echoed the tomb of Mughal Empress Mumtaz Mahal in the Taj Mahal. %% The carpet could never be used for the tomb and remained with the family collection. Exhibited in 1902-3 as a highlight of the great Delhi Exhibition displaying the wealth of the Maharajas, it was later moved to Monaco with Maharani Sita Devi – the ‘most flamboyant Maharani’ – who took the carpet along with her jewellery collection when she moved to the Mediterranean. For the first time in over 80 years the carpet was once again showcased in the 1985 landmark exhibition India at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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