17 June 2010 Founded in 1707 by Emperor Joseph I, the Austrian Dorotheum is the oldest among the world’s major auction houses.
One of Vienna’s best-known institutions, this extraordinary auction house is situated in the impressive Palais Dorotheum right in the centre of old town Vienna. From the beginning , the facilities met all the requirements of a major auction house in a truly excellent fashion; spacious showrooms and salons which became a favourite meeting place for art lovers, connoisseurs and high society. Today the Palace continues to provide the perfect setting and an attractive ambience for the Dorotheum’s major auctions. These days more than one hundred experts in over forty departments ranging from old master paintings to automobiles, run a dynamic and up-to-date auction house.
However, it was not always like this. Being branded as an institution with a great historic background and longstanding tradition could suggest a danger of being considered rather backward, slow and inefficient. Until not so long ago the carpet and textile department seemed to have lived up to this unfortunate prejudice.
New management has recently changed this situation drastically. The new expert on oriental rugs and textiles, Wolfgang Matschek is an "old hand” and well known in the trade. For decades he gathered valuable insight whilst working for Adil Besim, Fritz and Udo Langauer in leading positions. This experience will be of great assistance in understanding the market, the expectation of the trade and the consumers. Nevertheless it will not be an easy task to “jump start” a very slow vehicle but Wolfgang Matschek knows that reliable hard work will earn him the trust that he and the Dorotheum finally deserve. I trust that under his expertise and the favourable geographical situation of Vienna in central europe he has a very good chance to establish a splendid reputation to be one of the important auction houses for carpets an textiles. The “carpet world” looks eagerly forward to the upcoming auction on 14th September where 230 rugs will be on offer. The main focus will be on a keenly priced private collection on outstanding Caucasian rugs.
It is the goal of the new management to further expand Vienna as an auction venue and at the same time preserve the charm of this traditional institution. With an intensified client service, young image, and the expansion of its excellent international contacts, the Dorotheum intends to preserve and further develop its interesting profile for art lovers and collectors with regular carpet and textile auctions.
Peter Bichler |
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