Last week, Christie's concluded its series of Autumn Islamic Art Auctions with its Art & Textiles of the Islamic & Indian Worlds Including Works from the Collection of the Late Simon Digby. In total, the sales achieved £9,622,988m ($14,848,270m).
There were some real surprises in the sales. For example, a Panoramic View of the city of Lahore had been listed at £6,000-8,000, but frantic bidding saw it reach £61,250 ($95,700).
Likewise an illustration from the Baghavad Gita: Krishna and Arjuna hunting, (Basohli-Guler style, Punjab Hills, circa1760-65) easily tripled its £10,000 - 15,000 estimate to sell for £46,850 - perhaps surprisingly to an American trader.
 Khrishna and Arjuna hunting illustration |
William Robinson, International Head of Islamic Art, Christie's commented:
"The results of our auctions this week at both King Street and South Kensington illustrate the continuing demand across the market for works of art with Turkish provenance, notably Iznik pottery and Ottoman historical carpets which performed particularly well against their respective estimates.
"This season's exceptional private collection of 14th century Central Asian silk embroideries and textiles was the highlight of the week and Indian miniatures were also particularly sought after.
"This week ended with South Kensington's Islamic art sale, which achieved the second highest total for this category, and sold for 77% by value.
"The salerooms were consistently full of private and trade buyers competing for the works of art. The King Street sale saw a 7% increase in 2011from 2010, and the South Kensington sale saw a 30% increase over the same period."
