Islamic Week in London: Overview of the Most Prestigious Auctions

(by the Islamic Arts specialist Dr Isabelle Imbert PH.D)

Twice a year, London main auction houses gather for a week dedicated to Oriental arts. This autumn, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonham’s selection is particularly interesting. All three houses offer little known or completely unknown treasures and set interesting new trends that will have to be observed in future auctions.
Bonham’s opens the week on the 23rd with a large catalogue of 220 lots, Sotheby’s follows the next day with a bigger catalogue of 253 lots, while Christie’s finishes the week with 382 lots, including a large selection of carpets.

Traditionally, London auctions open on a selection of 8th and 9th centuries Qur’an leaves on parchment. These items are the oldest in the chronology of Islamic art history and are usually well represented in auctions. This autumn, however, Bonham’s completely removes the section and Sotheby’s reduces it to two lots. Christie’s presents only four lots but opens with a folio from the Blue Qur’an, this exceptional and apparently unique manuscript exclusively composed of gold writing on parchment leaves tinted in lapis blue ₍₁₎. The manuscript is not signed nor dated but its aesthetic qualities are without equal, so we can expect an interesting battle between private collectors and museums to get it.

To verify if the end of the Qur’anic leaves on parchment is coming to an end, let’s wait and see what result the 3rd lot presented at Christie’s will achieve. The 67 folios section was previously presented at Sotheby’s in 2007 for £60,000-80,000 and sold £60,500. ₍₂₎ Christie’s estimation drops to £40,000-60,000 and it will be interesting to see if the result follows.

_{1. Blue Qur’an leaf - Christie’s lot 1, £200,000-300,000}

_{2. Kufic Qur'an section - Christie’s lot 3, £40,000-60,00}

_{3. Safavid Tile - Bonham’s lot 41, £3,000-5,000}

_{4. Iznik pottery charger - Sotheby’s lot 134, £300,000-500,000}

The second main lot is a tile panel produced in Diyarbakır, in Ottoman Turkey, at the end of the 16th century ₍₅₎. Composed of twelve tiles richly ornamented, it was designed to fit a mihrab, the traditional niche placed in the Qibla wall of a mosque, toward which Muslims turn to pray. Diyarbakir production differs from Iznik in its decoration, more complex and intricate. This impressive ensemble, reaching 1.36m high, astonishes by the diversity of its decoration and the refinement of its ornament. Like the Iznik plate, it got an estimation of £300,000-500,000.

Iznik ceramics are always heavily represented in auctions. It has been a good investment for collectors for several years, with valuations in London rarely going lower than £3000. Value of Iznik items depends entirely on their conservation state, the quality of their decoration (a piece where pigments have run during baking will be less appealing, for instance) and their rarity. This is why Sotheby’s blue and white charger dish valuation skyrockets while most of the other pieces presented in the same catalogue stagnate around £6000. That being said, it will be interesting to see if the current state of the lira impacts the sales.

Ottoman Turkey is also represented through a few interesting illustrated manuscripts. Ottoman arts of the book have been underrepresented for years, mainly because they have been considered as a sous genre of Safavid and post-Safavid Persian painting. Last spring auction has shown that it is far from being the case with an exquisite erotic manuscript sold £561,000, and this autumn should continue to see prices increase. This should be the case with a folio from the story of Miqdad bin Aswad, copied in 1003/1594-95 and richly illustrated ₍₆₎. The page was valued by Sotheby’s in 2007 at £30,000-40,000 and sold £120,500; Christie’s more than doubles the estimation by going as high as £80,000-120,000 to follows this new trend.

Late Ottoman prayer books and Qur’ans have been well represented for several years and this Islamic week doesn’t seem to contradict this. Estimations generally never go above £10,000 but are a safe investment. Qajar productions from 19th century Iran have come into a new light in recent years through scientific breakthroughs, exhibitions and of course the opening of Iran to the world under the Obama administration. Where Qajar manuscripts and lacquers were previously seen as charming objects of curiosity, prices have started to rise. That being said, last spring Islamic week offered a large number of Qajar items, especially manuscripts, and most of them were sold without breaking records. This is maybe the reason why this Islamic week selection is more reduced and diversified, including more jewellery and weapons.

_{7. Baburnama, c. 1589 - Christie’s lot 174,
£15,000-20,000}

_{8. Riza Abbasi, Seated Youth - Christie’s lot 56, £100,000-150,000}

_{9. Marian Hastings emerald seal - Bonham’s lot
171, £20,000-30,000}