OAKLAND, CA. – Jan David Winitz, president and founder of Claremont Rug Company, recalls one of his fondest memories. It was a telephone call that he received from a client after having placed a series of antique Oriental rugs in a “run up” to a seminal oil painting that graced the wall of a substantial mid-18th-century residence in Greenwich Village.

“The lady, an avid art collector, had acquired more than a dozen rugs to set off a multi-million dollar signature painting. She called to tell me that a sum cost significantly less than the artwork, the rugs brought her even more enjoyment than the painting itself,” Winitz said, “She definitely wanted me to know that.”

Claremont’s trove of rugs, some 2500 in number, is entirely from the Second Golden Age of Persian Weaving, ca. 1800 to ca. 1910.

That great art and the best antique Oriental rugs enhance each other in a room or in an entire residence is not unusual for Winitz, who opened his Gallery in 1980. After all, he has clients such as a couple in the Midwest who own pieces by Willem de Kooning and Gerhard Richter, and also are avid rug collectors. Another client has built an important trove of 120 rugs for less than the cost of the Lichtenstein that hangs in his residence. Among his clients are also collectors of works by Chuck Close and Roy Lichtenstein.

And it is not happenstance.

For decades, Winitz has been discussing with his clients that Persian and tribal rugs from the 19th-century have influenced artists from Monet to Kandinsky as well as Holbein, Vermeer, Matisse and Klee, to name a few.

There are even photos, published in the New York Times, from Claude Monet’s bedroom and workshop/living room in Giverny which show 19th-century tribal rugs.

“Antique Oriental rugs complement both classic and modern art because they influenced it. The colors and patterns have direct affinity with the artwork,” says Winitz, “and our clients, many of whom are extremely knowledgeable collectors of multiple forms of art and antiques, are deeply passionate about melding sculpture, paintings, furniture and rugs into an impactful setting.”

While Jan David Winitz’s clients are diverse in their backgrounds and reside on six continents, they share a passion for great art and understand how their tastes can be melded into complementary matching of paintings, sculpture and furniture with antique Oriental rugs from the Second Golden Age of Persian Weaving.

“Many of the residences where I have placed substantial numbers of antique rugs are of contemporary design,” he says. “One which particularly stands out is a major whole home project where the interior designer initially said, ‘Oriental rugs would not work.’ Eighteen rugs later, the gentleman is now a great advocate and the designer has a better understanding of Oriental rugs.

“Coincidentally, Claremont’s collection of antique art rugs has been primarily built through the acquisition of entire private collections,” says Winitz, “some of which have been held by families for three to even five generations. Often the residences in which they were initially displayed also had extensive collections of classical antiques, sculpture, paintings and furniture at their root. But the rugs work equally well with the exotic woods and stone of contemporary homes.

“I find it both fascinating and gratifying when I look at publications that celebrate other forms of art in a room setting,” he says, “because more often than not I will see antique Oriental rugs pictured, serving as an integral aspect of graciousness of the residence.”

When Winitz opened Claremont nearly four decades ago, it was based on the concept that the finest examples of antique Oriental rugs from the Second Golden Age, ca. 1800 to ca. 1910, deserved to be recognized as great art, as well as precious tangible assets. What has occurred over time proves that his thesis is indeed validated. From an inventory of 40 rugs with a small set of clients in the San Francisco Bay Area, he has built a Gallery with a collection of more than 2,500 Second Golden Age pieces along with clients on all six continents.

“In the milieu of global art collectors,” he says, “great antique Oriental rugs are very much on the list what they seek to acquire and to relish living with.”

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