If the idea of drapping something worth US$4.8 million around your neck sends a thrill down your spine, we present to you this unassuming Ascher scarf, which went under the hammer for almost $5 million at Christie’s in London. Originally displayed as a wall panel, the scarf’s astonishing price was bumped up by virtue of its designer – Henri Matisse. 

The scarf’s fascinating provenance is worth recapping: in 1946, Zika Ascher, the founder of Ascher London, journeyed to Paris to persuade French artists to design for his label. The trip bore fruition in the form of Matisse’s original print, entitled Oceanie, La Mer,which was produced in a limited run of 30. The £3 million original, sold to an undisclosed bidder, was the artist’s first large scale pictorial remembrance of his 1940 voyage to Tahiti, and was hung on the wall of his studio, making it a silent witness to the master at work – and now, the distinction of being the world’s most expensive scarf. 

Henri Matisse’s $4.8 Million Oceanie, La Mer Scarf

Christie’s