Report by Santanu Ganguly: Following on the heels of Christies’ entry into India, international carpet curator Mr. Sheel Chandra launched The Carpet Cellar’s flagship Carpet and Textile Gallery in New Delhi.
A carpet expert and an international authority on rare textiles, Mr. Sheel Chandra boasts of the single largest private collection of museum-quality antique rugs in the world, second only to the Sultan Of Brunei. Profiled extensively by the Indian press for his personal collection and a regular invitee to rare carpet auctions and an antique carpet consultant with international museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York- his new Rug Gallery will house his personal collection of both modern and antique hand-knotted rugs.
Collected over a span of 4 decades Mr Chandra’s collection of rugs and textiles encompasses all four corners of the carpet-weaving map and has original pieces from all the traditional rug-weaving areas of the world: Iran, Turkey, the Caucasus, Central Asia, parts of western China and ofcourse India.
Says Mr. Chandra, “Carpets as art pieces is an old concept as old as antiquity where carpets were commissioned by royals for their homes and palaces and weavers enjoyed immense patronage and status. Just recently an original Sickle-Leaf carpet sold at Sotheby’s for 33.7 million U.S. dollars.
He added, “Since I bought my first rug, it has been my dream to have a carpet museum showcasing the amazing rugs that have been created by master weavers. This new Gallery is the first small step toward making that happen.”
Says his nephew Dhruv Chandra who commissions the new carpets “Creating one of these masterpieces is no joke. A small bedroom rug can take anywhere from 6 months to a year to create, from creating a naksha to hand-crafting the correct dye and to knotting each piece individually.
He adds “We were recently part of the Kochi Bienalle , which was quite an honor. We collaborated with Adelaide-based artist Hossein Valamanesh to create an Art installation that featured our original works at the Biennale.”
To view the collections please visit the The Carpet Cellar’s new gallery space on MG road or check out www.carpetcellar.com.
February 5th, 2014
Preview – 11am – 7pm, OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK
The Carpet Cellar
348 , MG Road, Sultanpur ,
Near Sultanpur Metro station,
New Delhi 110030
Tel: 26808777
Also at
1, Anand Lok,
Siri Fort Road,(Opp Kamla Nehru College)
New Delhi - 110049
Tel: +91-11- 41641777,26261777,26525777
Fax: +91-11-26963664
EMail: nc@carpetcellar.com
URL: www.carpetcellar.com , www.shahmina.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment