TRAV E LL E R ‘ S TAL E : C A R P E T M U S E U M O F I R A N – TAASA Review September 2010

Helen Holmes and Ros Hunyor W inging our way into Tehran we were alerted to a story in the Economist about a mid 17th Century Kirman `vase’ carpet from southern Persia, formerly in the collection of the Comtesse de Behague, sold at Christie’s London auction in April 2010 for a staggering USD9.59 million, far exceeding any record of an auctioned work of Islamic art.

This was a fitting introduction to the delights of the Carpet Museum of Iran. The museum was to reveal many beautiful Kirman carpets amongst other treasures, including a copy of the famous Pazyryk carpet believed to date from the 4th century BCE, the subject of an article by Leigh Mackay in the December 2009 TAASA Review. The Carpet Museum of Iran, designed by Queen Farah Diba Pahlavi, is located in Laleh Park in Tehran.

Built in 1978, its modern tentlike façade resembles a carpet-weaving loom...