This undated file photo provided by Sotheby’s shows a Sickle-Leaf Carpet, a Persian rug from Washington, D.C.’s Corcoran Gallery of Art, that was auctioned in New York on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 by Sotheby’s. Sotheby’s says it sold for $33.7 million, more than three times the previous auction record for a carpet. AP FILE PHOTO/Sotheby’s
NEW YORK — A Persian rug from the early 17th century has sold for $33.7 million in New York City.
Sotheby’s auction house says Wednesday’s price for the Clark Sickle-Leaf Carpet was more than three times the previous auction record for a carpet.
The Sickle-Leaf Carpet sold to an anonymous telephone bidder. The seller was the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The carpet was part of a collection bequeathed to Corcoran in 1926 by William A. Clark, an industrialist and U.S. senator from Montana.
The previous record price for a carpet was $9.6 million for a Persian carpet sold by Christie’s in London in April 2010.
The price includes the auction house’s premium.