The top lot of the sale was the second largest work by Fahrelnissa Zeid to appear at auction, as the kaleidoscopic 2 by 6 metre Towards a Sky, 1953 sold for £992,750 / $1,271,216 (est. £550,000-650,000) – ahead of the artist’s retrospective opening at the Tate Modern in June. One of the most influential female Turkish artists, Zeid’s dynamic works embody a fusion of influences from Islamic, Byzantine, Arab and Persian art combined with stylistic elements from post-war Europe such as Fauvism and Cubism. Zeid kept a photograph of this painting in a frame at her bedside until she passed away and this was the first time that it had appeared on the market since it was last exhibited in 1957. 

A rare work by one of Iran’s greatest modern masters Bahman Mohasses tripled the artist’s world record at auction selling for £584,750 / $748,772 (est. £280,000-380,000). Requiem Omnibus (Death of Martin Luther King), 1958 was a personal and raw response to the assassination of Martin Luther King. A further record was set for Fouad Kamel, one of the earliest Surrealist painters in the region and a member of the Art & Liberty movement, as his forceful, twisted composition The Drinker, 1941 sold for £93,750 / $120,047 (est. £22,000-28,000). This was one of seven works from the distinguished collection of German art critic Ursula Schernig, a gallerist who was instrumental in ensuring the legacies of many of Egypt’s leading artists. The Schernig Collection sold for a combined £214,375 / $ 274,508 (est. £84,000-116,000). The auction also saw a record for pioneering female figure of Iraqi modernism Madiha Omar, as The Flying Saucers, 1958 sold for £37,500 / $48,019. One of the first artists to explore the formal qualities of the Arabic letter in contemporary art, Omar was also the first Iraqi woman to receive a scholarship from the government to study in Europe. Benchmarks were set for three dynamic artists from the seminal Contemporary Art Group, Cairo, including Mahmoud Kahlil, Salem el Habashi (Mogli) and Maher Raif.

Mahmoud Said’s Portrait de Mme. Batanouni Bey was acquired for the collection of the soon to be opened Halim Museum of Time & Glass in Chicago. The painting, which sold for £392,750 / $502,916 (est. £150,000-250,000), depicted the beautiful and independent cousin of the artist, Ferdous Hamada.

Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby’s Contemporary Arab and Iranian Art Specialist and Head of Sale, said: “A wider audience than ever is discovering the talents of these pioneering artists. This was evident throughout, particularly in the enthusiasm that we saw for the work of Fahrelnissa Zeid – which I’m sure will continue into the summer with the opening of her major Tate retrospective in London. In today’s sale, internationally sourced works were met with international buying as we saw fresh to the market museum-quality works proving their perennial appeal.”

The Orientalist Sale:
Launched as an annual event in 2012 and now in its sixth season, The Orientalist Sale brought a total of £3,387,250 / $4,337,374 against a pre-sale estimate of £2,858,000- 4,201,000. Bringing together paintings and sculpture representing the landscapes, people, and customs of North Africa, Egypt, the Levant, Arabia, and the Ottoman world during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the sale was led by a masterpiece by Bohemian artist Georg Emanuel Opiz. The Arrival of the Mahmal at an Oasis en Route to Mecca, a lavish and wonderfully detailed rendition of the Ottoman caravan of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, realised £944,750 / $1,209,752.

Painted some 100 years later, Ludwig Deutsch’s The Procession of the Mahmal through the Streets of Cairo, achieved the second highest price, selling for £308,750 / $395,354. The Fortune Teller, Cairo by Ludwig Deutsch tripled its low estimate to bring £248,750 / $318,524, while a beautifully cast, silvered bronze of an Arab Sheik of Cairo by the great French 19th-century sculptor Charles Cordier, the model for which was conceived on a trip to Egypt in 1866, sold for £87,500 / $112,044.

Claude Piening, Sotheby’s Head of Orientalist Paintings, commented: “The sale saw competitive bidding from collectors in the MENA region and beyond, and established new auction records for three artists: Eugène Baugniès, Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ, and Georg Emanuel Opiz, whose exquisitely rendered early depiction of the Hajj pilgrimage led the sale. Works of the German and Austrian schools – including by Deutsch, Ernst, and Bauernfeind – were in particularly strong demand, with a 100% sell-through rate. The market for Orientalist art continues to show strength, especially for evocative subjects that bring the region to life or shed light on its history.”

l17100_the_orientalist_sale_25.4.17.pdf

l17220_arts_of_the_islamic_world_26.4.17_-_top_ten.pdf

l17228_20th_century_art_middle_east_25.4.17_-_top_ten.pdf