LONDON.- Sotheby’s first-ever Evening Sale of Islamic Art, A Princely Collection: Treasures from the Islamic World, tonight realised the remarkable total of £7,070,550, against a pre-sale estimate of £3.4-4.8 million, and established strong sell-through rates by lot and value of 96% and 88% respectively. Of the lots sold, 75% achieved sums in excess of their pre-sale high estimates.

Commenting on the results, Edward Gibbs, Senior Director and Head of Sotheby’s Middle East Department, said: “Tonight’s auction of Islamic Art – the first Evening Sale in this collecting category ever to be staged – represents a landmark moment for the field. These extraordinary results are confirmation of the discerning eye of the collector who assembled this collection of rare and high quality works of art, and also reflect the strength of this market and the ever-growing demand for desirable artefacts relating to the Islamic world.”

Headlining this evening’s auction was the sale of a rare and important Abbasid lustre pottery bowl, dating to the second-half of the 9th century, which was the subject of intense competition. The bowl, which displays a sparse and striking stylised foliate pattern reminiscent of the tile work in the Great Mosque of Qairawan in Tunisia realised the extraordinary sum of £713,250, and sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for almost four times the low estimate (lot 60, est.: £200,000-300,000).

Read more: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=41515

Photo: The manuscript’s opening double-page frontispiece shows distinctive stylistic characteristics decorated in yellow, orange and green.
© Copyright Sotheby’s.


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