Carpet commissioned by the Maharaja of Baroda
The Pearl Carpet of Baroda is a carpet that was commissioned by the Maharaja of Baroda.
History.
Originally a part of the five piece set, the carpet was commissioned by Khande Rao Gaekwad, the Maharaja of Baroda, in 1865. He intended to gift the carpet to adorn the Prophet's Tomb in Medina. 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.
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. It is now a part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of Qatar.
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.
Notes.
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Citations.
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