Oriental rugs in demand – Claremont

13 Oct '11

5 min read

Winitz also cited ten collectors (seven domestic and three international) who have acquired more than 100 art level carpets each from Claremont, who have never been to the Gallery. "These men and women are serious, seasoned connoisseurs who understand the dynamic nature of the antique rug market," he said. "They know great rugs and they recognize that the availability of the best pieces is diminishing rapidly."

With an inventory of more than 4000 19th century antique Oriental rugs, Claremont stands alone among galleries because of the depth and breadth of its collection as well as the provenance of its carpets. Nearly 900 of the rugs are available for viewing on the Gallery's website.

Winitz also expects that the opening of the new galleries devoted to Islamic art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York would spark interest in Oriental carpets. The section is scheduled to open on November 1, the culmination of eight years of planning and it has already been featured in an extensive article in the New York Times.

"For the past three decades, we have told our clients that premier 19th century Oriental rugs continued to be significantly undervalued," he said. "In the last several years, an increasingly number of art collectors have literally caught on and we would expect that the attention given to the new Met permanent gallery will serve to further the appreciation of this truly remarkable art form."

The art-level rug market has also benefited from the global economic conditions. Recently, Reuters reported that wealthy families who had "hedged" against the recession with gold were now turning to the art market.

Reuters wrote, "While many of these families have been holding gold for a decade or more, building positions of up to 15 percent of their investment portfolio, they are now taking profits and putting the money to work in the art market," said Andrew Nolan, a director of wealth management and advisory firm Stonehage, that manages $2 billion and advises around 100 families with total wealth of around $30 billion.

"Families were well ahead of the market on gold. A lot of them were sitting on large amounts of gold for quite a while," said Nolan. "They are putting more into the art market, which held up far better through the crisis than a lot of other assets…".

Winitz says it is not coincidental that this occurring. "Aficionados who are also savvy investors understand the principle of precious tangible assets, which the best 19th century Oriental rugs most assuredly are. The fact these pieces also bring an incomparable level of balance and harmony to their homes is an additional attraction, which a bar of gold simply can't accomplish."

Claremont Rug Company

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