Christie’s concluded Islamic Art Week with combined sales of £10,230,188 (US $17,028,757), also setting an auction record for a modern pottery sale - the rare Iznik bowl sold for £1.4 million.
William Robinson, international head of Islamic and Indian art, said that ‘the strongest message’ of the week was that all three sales exceeded their pre-sale high estimates. They were the only sales of the week to achieve this.
“Christie’s consistent success in the London week of Islamic Art sales this spring was underpinned by rare and beautiful works with strong provenance sourced from private collections,” said Robinson.
Robinson described the bidding as ‘competitive’ and labelled the event as a celebration of creativity and technical excellence from the Islamic and Indian worlds encompassing works of art, carpets and rugs and manuscripts.
Islamic Art Week ran from April 8 to 11. Below are the most notable lots from the event.
LOT 188 - A RARE AND IMPORTANT EARLY IZNIK POTTERY BOWL - OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1510
Estimate: £300,000 - £500,000
Sold for: £1,426,500
LOT 20 - THE BAILLET-LATOUR MAMLUK CARPET - PROBABLY CAIRO, EARLY 16TH CENTURY
Estimate: £250,000-350,000
Sold for: £782,500
LOT 130 - A MUGHAL JADE PENDANT (HALDILI) - MUGHAL INDIA, DATED AH 1006/1597-89 AD
Estimate £15,000 - £20,000
Sold for £290,500
Images courtesy of Christie's Images Ltd. 2014