The auction saw further records for Egyptian painter and feminist activist Inji Efflatoun, whose 1962 portrait of a detainee sold for £68,750 / $95,838 (est. £15,000-25,000), Saudi artist Maha Malluh, with Food for Thought, Assabeel (2012) at £32,500 / $45,305 (est. £28,000-35,000) and Contemporary Lebanese artist Ziad Antar at £7,500 / $10,420 (est. £6,000-8,000), as well as benchmarks for Salah Yousri and Farshid Maleki.

Three works by Syrian artist Louai Kayali were offered from the collection of the late Ms. Pearl A. Baker, a diplomat and world traveller who met with the artist in Damascus – selling for a combined total of £68,750 / $95,838 (est. £34,000-51,000), led by a tender portrait of the artist’s ten-year-old niece.

THE ORIENTALIST SALE
An annual event, The Orientalist Sale totalled £5,175,750 / $7,214,996, against a pre-sale estimate of £3,535,000-5,124,000. Bringing together paintings and sculpture representing the landscapes, people, and customs of North Africa, Egypt, the Levant, Arabia, and the Ottoman world during the 19th and early 20th centuries, the auction was led by Edwin Lord Weeks’ Rabat (The Red Gate), a monumental view of the inner gate of the Kasbah of Oudaïas. Painted in 1879 during the artist’s third trip to Morocco, the work more than tripled its estimate, selling for £573,000 / $798,762 (est. £200,000-300,000).

A selection of paintings and watercolours from a distinguished private collector was highlighted by Paul Joanowits’ Bashi-bazouks before a Gateway, depicting two Ottoman army soldiers in all their regalia, which flew above estimate to £465,000 / $648,210 (est. £100,000-150,000) – establishing a new record for the artist at auction. A further auction record was established by Raphael von Ambros with The Baker's Shop, Cairo, at £162,500 / $226,525 (est. £100,000-150,000).

Strong prices were achieved for rediscovered works. The sale opened with Stringing Pearls by Theodoros Ralli, an exquisite painting perfectly capturing the artist’s exceptional skill at depicting intimate scenes of daily life in Egypt. One of the most exquisite examples by Ralli to appear on the market in recent years, the finely detailed image of a Nubian man dressed in yellow silk carefully strings white teardrop pearls into a necklace drew multiple bids, selling for £273,000 / $380,562 (est. £80,000-120,000) – the highest price for a work by the artist at auction since 2010. A watercolour by Anders Zorn, depicting Women outside the Sidi Abderrahman Mosque, Algiers, sold for £309,000 / $430,746, and Jean-Léon Gérôme’s A Sultan at Prayer made £297,000 / $414,018 (£200,000-300,000).

An Ottoman Beauty by Italian artist Cesare dell’Acqua – a work exemplifying nineteenth-century French taste for Orientalism and turqueries – soared over estimate to reach £405,000 / $564,570 (est. £60,000-80,000).

RUGS & CARPETS
Comprising a treasure trove of exceptional collector and decorator pieces spanning Persia, India, Central Asia, Anatolia, Turkey and Europe, Sotheby’s sale of exquisite Rugs & Carpets totalled £1,553,063 / $2,178,016 (est. £1,354,300-1,881,000).

The auction was led by the largest Toussounian silk carpet ever to appear at auction, which soared above estimate to £393,000 / $551,143 (est. £200,000-300,000) – setting a world record for any 20th century carpet at auction. The design elements of this ‘Emperor’ silk carpet take from one of the most complex and sophisticated groups of classical carpets of the early Safavid period in the 16th century, adorned with colourful palmettes, cloud-bands, mythical animals and delicate layers of spiralling vines.

Following a successful auction in November, the second group of rare and early weavings from the renowned collection of the celebrated architect and author Christopher Alexander performed well – led by a West Anatolian rug fragment, thought to be from the Gördes region, at £81,250 / $113,945 (est. £8,000-12,000).

The sale saw also strong competition for a strikingly fragmented Karapinar carpet, crafted in the second half of the 16th century in Central Anatolia, which more than doubled its estimate to bring £131,250 / $184,065 (est. £40,000-60,000).

L18100 The Orientalist Sale - Top Ten

L18220 Arts of the Islamic World - Top Ten

L18228 20th Century Art Middle East - Top Ten

L18873 Rugs & Carpets - Top Ten