Jan David Winitz

Jan David Winitz is the founder of Claremont Rug Company, an Oakland, California-based art dealer who specializes in connoisseur-level to museum-caliber 19th century Oriental rugs. He is the author of The Guide to Purchasing an Oriental Rug. In the collecting world, he is acknowledged as having elevated the status of rugs from the Second Golden Age of Persian Weaving (ca 1800 to ca 1900) from a decorative craft to an art, recognized for its masterful color and design, cultural significance, symbolism, and importance as an influencer of other art forms.

Inspired by a family member’s collection of Near Eastern rugs, he acquired his first antique carpet while still in high school. During a three-year period as a high-school English teacher, he sold rugs privately to supplement his income. In 1980, at the age of 25, Winitz founded Claremont Rug Company in a small storefront building in Oakland, California. His early success inspired him to give up teaching and present antique carpets to the public as “works of art comparable to those usually displayed on the wall.” An initial inventory of 40 pieces eventually grew to approximately 4000 rugs (as of January 2012), the majority woven in Persia and the Caucasus Mountain regions. They are obtained primarily from private family collections in Europe, North and South America. Many of the rugs have been “off-the-market” for generations and have provenance that can be traced to the original purchase. He is credited with having acquired the three most important private collections to come to market in the 21st century: the "Hudson River Valley Collection" (2009); the "Intercontinental Collection" (2010), and the "Bostonian Collection" (2012).

A frequent lecturer, Winitz is credited with having raised the critical opinion about vintage Oriental carpets from that of a craft to a collectible art form, investment, and tangible asset. His clients include Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, motion picture executives, rock music stars, Nobel Prize winners and several dozen Forbes 400 List billionaires based in more than a dozen countries, as well as throughout the U.S.