Arab and Iranian art works last month, with one Iranian piece by Sohbrab Seperhri selling for $655,716.
Sotheby’s held an auction October 20 that it dubbed its strongest auction of Arab and Iranian art. Eighty-three lots, which included major works by leading Iranian artists Sohrab Sepehri, Farhad Moshiri, Parviz Tanavoli, Mohammad Eshsai and Reza Derakshani, were featured at the auction.
Some of the Iranian pieces were sold for several times more than the value estimated by Sotheby’s. Seperhri’s untitled work from his Tree Trunks Series, for example, was estimated to fetch between £200,000 and £300,000, but ended up selling for £409,250 ($655,716). The piece, which measures 150 by 205 cm or 59 by 80 inches, is the largest and most significant work by the artist ever to come to auction. It was a personal commission by a member of the late Shah’s cabinet in 1976. The piece, which originally hung in the minister’s office, was relocated first to London and then to the United States; it has remained in private hands since.
Sepehri is one of the most highly acclaimed of Iran’s 20th century artists. His untitled painting from the Tree Trunk Series is described as a partial representation of tree trunks indicating the whole tree was intentional, and symbolic of his introspection and state of mind.
The contemporary section of the auction was headlined by three pieces by Moshiri, the highest of which sold for £97,250 ($155,817).
Moshiri’s oil, acrylic and glitter on canvas mounted on a panel piece, titled Born Yesterday, which he completed in 2007, depicts a pink cookie-cut-out wedding-cake in Hollywood-esque style. The painting serves to compare the imported western ideal with local Iranian custom. Branded with the phrase “Born Yesterday,” it is an apparent reference to youth forgetting their Persian roots for western ideals spoon fed to them through American magazines, television and film. The value was estimated between £60,000 and £80,000 but sold for £91,250 ($146,204).
Moshiri’s next piece, titled “Nagoo Ke Kheyli Dire, Eshghat Narafte Az Yad” (Don’t Say It’s Too Late, Your Love Has Not Been Forgotten), is oil, acrylic and glue on canvas. The piece, completed in 2005, was valued at £60,000 to £80,000 but sold for £79,250 ($126,977). The piece depicts a jar representing a Sassanian urn. In his monumental jar paintings, Moshiri depicts iconic pots inspired by ancient pottery pieces in the 6,000-year-old site of Susa. But rather than being ornamented with lines from classical Persian poems or verses from the Qoran, Moshiri inscribes this jar with the words from a popular Iranian love song that reads: “Nagoo ke kheyli dire, Eshghat narafte az yad,“ meaning: Do not say it is too late, I have not forgotten [my] love for you.
The final work by Moshiri was valued at £50,000 to £70,000, but ended up fetching £97,250 ($155,817). The piece, which was created from oil, acrylic and glue on canvas, was completed in 2006. The piece, titled 3haar, draws inspiration from the clash of modernity and tradition in contemporary Iranian culture. The work features calligraphic numbers and letters overlaid and intertwined.
Several other Iranian pieces sold for much higher than expected, including Parviz Tanavoli’s Standing Heech Lovers, which sold for £133,250 pounds ($213,498), Mohammad Ehsai’s Daffodils piece, which was valued between £40,000 and £60,000 but sold for £121,250 pounds ($194,271) and Reza Derakshani’s White Fig Black Fig Silver Fig Ruby Fig, estimated between £25,000 and £35,000 and sold for £39,650 ($63,528)
Dalya Islam, deputy director of Sotheby’s Middle East Department, said: “The region, which has experienced transforming growth in the past 10 years, has borne and nurtured some of the finest modern and contemporary artists of our time. We are delighted to be able to play a role in further raising global awareness and understanding of the output of such talented artists from this region by presenting their works on the international platform of Sotheby’s annual Contemporary Arab and Iranian Sale in London.”