Ardebil carpet

In 1922 Mr. Ballard invited the curators of the Metropolitan to select what rugs they needed from his collection to complete their own. They chose one hundred and twenty-nine rugs, valued then at over a million dollars. A distinguished group is also in the St. Louis Museum.

The Vienna Museum had an outstanding collection of great rugs.

But probably the most famous rug in the world is in the South Kensington Museum in London, valued it is said, at half a million dollars. It is called the Ardebil carpet because it was found in the mosque in Ardebil, the Persian city where Shah Ismael set up his court in 1502.