NEW YORK, NY.- On March 3, 2009, Sotheby’s New York will offer Rugs and Carpets from theBarbara Zidell Sedlin Family Collection. The auction estimated to bring $2/3 million, will consist of nearly 130 lots from the personal collection of Ms. Sedlin as well as the remaining inventory of her gallery, The Ghiordian Knot. he Collection will be on display in Sotheby’s New York galleries beginning February 25, 2009.

Highlights of the auction include a rare and early 17th century Northwest Persian Garden Carpet Fragment (est. $70/100,000); a Karachopt Kazak Rug with spacious design and brilliant coloring (est. $50/70,000); a late 18th century Agra Carpet with an elegant and intricate design, as well as a large ivory Ziegler Mahal Carpet in near original condition, each estimated to sell for $80/120,000. The auction also features small, finely woven Persian rugs for which Ms. Sedlin is particularly known; including a striking Sarouk Fereghan Prayer Rug with a flowering tree of bold leaves (est. $25/35,000) , as well as an extremely unusual item of lothing; a Knotted-Pile Baktiari Vest (est. $7/10,000).

A native of Oregon and graduate of Wellesley College and M.I.T., Ms. Sedlin learned about rugs and the carpet business entirely on her own. After nearly a 10‐year career in the field of city and regional planning, she decided to venture into the carpet business. For over 20 years, from 1973 to 1994, she was the proprietor and director of the renowned carpet gallery The Ghiordian Knot in New York City.

Living in Europe in the late 1950s and into the 1960s Ms. Sedlin, in addition to becoming fluent in French, began collecting and learning about rugs. Her enthusiasm for textiles and carpets grew and she became a strong believer and promoter of rugs as an art form. To this end, she traveled throughout Europe and the Middle East in her quest to acquire the best.

The Ghiordian Knot began in a small maisonette on Park Avenue in 1973 and as business picked up, Ms. Sedlin moved to larger quarters in 1976 at the Manhattan Art & Antiques Center on 2nd Avenue where the gallery would reside until 1990. Ms. Sedlin then had a gallery space custom designed to present rugs as art on East 57th Street, where the business remained through 1994. Since that time, Barbara Sedlin has continued working by appointment and through other dealers. Ms. Sedlin is now retiring from the business and therefore is offering rugs from her personal collection and from her remaining inventory at auction.