Pearl Carpet of Baroda

Pearl Carpet of Baroda
Material	deerskin and silk, embellished with pearls, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds
Long	264 centimetres (104 in)
Width	173 centimetres (68 in)
Created	around 1870[note 1]
Present location	National Museum of Qatar[1]

The Pearl Carpet of Baroda is a carpet that was commissioned by the Maharaja of Baroda.[2][3]

History

Originally a part of the five piece set, the carpet was commissioned by Khande Rao Gaekwad, the Maharaja of Baroda, in 1865.[4] He intended to gift the carpet to adorn the Prophet's Tomb in Medina.[2] However, the maharajah died in 1870 before the donation was made and the pearl carpet remained in his family.

It was first exhibited in public at the Delhi Durbar in 1903, when it was still owned by the Gaekwad dynasty. The last Gaekwad royal to own it was Sita Devi who took it with her to Monaco in 1946.[5][6]

The carpet made its second appearance in public when it was displayed in 1985 at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. At a Sotheby's auction in Doha in 2009, an anonymous buyer bought it for $5.5 million.[5] It is now a part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of Qatar.[7]

The pearl carpet is only one of the two remaining pieces of the five piece set, all of which were meant to be for prophet's tomb. The other piece is the Baroda Pearl Canopy, embroidered with the same Basra pearls and precious stones.

See also

• Vadodara
• Khanderao Gaekwad

Notes

1. It is believed that the carpet was completed, but not sent to Medina at the time of the Maharaja's death, which was in 1870.

Citations

1. Raaj, Neelam. "Mira Nair to Baroda maharaja: Spectacular new desert rose museum's Indian connection". The Times of India. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
2. Agencies, Our Foreign Staff and (2009-03-20). "Carpet studded with pearls and gems sells for £3.8m at auction". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 2017-05-03. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
3. Raj, Neelam (2009-02-15). "Baroda's pearl carpet may go for well over $5m". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2019-10-13. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
4. https://historyofvadodara.in/baroda-pearl-carpet/
5. Gupte, Masoom (2016-06-02). "Baroda royal carpet auctioned, Pratapsinh Gaekwad says he has no idea about sale". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
6. Neha, Mathur (2009-02-22). "Jewels of Baroda back in spotlight". India Today. Archived from the original on 2019-10-13. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
7. "Spectacular artefacts await visitors at National Museum of Qatar". www.thepeninsulaqatar.com. Retrieved 2021-04-13.

External links

• http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2009/the-pearl-carpet-of-baroda-d09005.html
• The Pearl Carpet of Baroda - Google Arts & Culture