Christie’s First London-Based Middle Eastern Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Auction

Christie’s launched the marquee event ‘Middle Eastern Art’ with Middle Eastern Modern & Contemporary Art evening auction, which moved from Dubai to London this season and achieved a total of £5,235,125 / $6,863,249 / €5,826,694 with sell-through rates of 85% by lot and 88% by value. Registered bidders from 23 countries confirmed the international appetite for works from the region. The sale was led by a world auction record for the Iraqi artist Jewad Selim, whose painting The Watermelon Seller sold for £668,750 / $876,731 / €744,319, more than double its high estimate of £250,000. Egyptian artists were a focal point of the evening with the recognised master Mahmoud Saïd’s intimate portrait Hanem selling for £320,750 / $420,503 / €356,995 alongside his second version of La fille aux yeux verts (£175,000 / $229,425 / €194,775) while his reclining nude Nu au rideau gris completed the group (£93,750.