Sotheby’s will be auctioning off some items of the the Maharadja of Baroda’s estate on March 19th in Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art. The famous jewelry collector from the last century, the Gaekwar, as he was known to be called, had a collection of jewels comparative to that of jewelers Alfred Van Cleef and Louis Cartier. It’s the first auction Sotheby’s had ever organized in Qatar. The Pearl Carpet of Baroda’s heritage is Indian circa 1865. It was a gift to the prophet Mohammad’s tomb in Medina. The carpet’s dimensions are 174×264 cm which has rosettes encrusted with 1.5 million basra pearls and rose cut diamonds totaling 350-400 carats (!). Furthermore, emeralds, sapphires and rubies are all set in gold embellishing this work of art. Work started on the masterpiece in 1860 and took 5 years to finish under the collaboraton of hundreds of artisans. Bidding is to start at $5 million, and some anticipate that the Pearl Carpet of Baroda will fetch some $60 million.

More after the jump.