SALE SEASON

The first thing that anyone, including the postman, is going to notice about the latest Islamic-art sales is the size of the catalogues. They are about half the size of six months ago. The estimates seem smaller too, and in general there are fewer of the premium lots that have been attracting big prices over the past few years. Last out of the printer with its catalogue, but with the most exciting single offering, is Sotheby’s.

The cover lot is an object of exceptional rarity, with a provenance that is equally impressive. This time last year, Sotheby’s sold what was for a while the most expensive work of Islamic art ever. The supposedly Abbasid-dynasty Ka’aba key has been returned by the purchaser, but now the auction house has another item that should generate considerable excitement. This time it will be on aesthetic grounds while the main attraction of the key was historical.

Sotheby’s star lot is a 14th century Mamluk glass vessel known as the ‘Rothschild Bucket’. Anything with a provenance from that family is off to a good start. Two years ago there was Mamluk glass mosque lamp as the cover lot, without a Rothschild provenance. That one had to be withdrawn after some authenticity issues were expressed. The ‘bucket’ was in fact once catalogued as “Probably France, second half 19th century”, but in the past few years chemical analysis has shown the blue enamel to have been made from lapis lazuli rather than cobalt. This and other research places the vessel in the Mamluk era, which is the summit for Islamic glass.

These works were much admired in Europe around five to seven centuries ago. The Rothschild Bucket was also pursued by the Third Reich, whose agents expropriated it during the Second World War. Its condition is still excellent and its value (estimate GBP600,000 – 800,000) will not be affected by its function; the bucket was probably a finger bowl. As the inscription says: “I am a toy for the fingers, shaped as a vessel. I contain cool water.”

Also in London, the results were in for the first major sale of Turkish contemporary art. Sotheby’s did well, with most lots selling at or above their high estimate. Needless to say, the most enthusiastic bidders were from Turkey, although it was a fairly international assembly of bidders. At the top end, artists such as Mubin Orhon and Taner Ceylan doubled their estimates. The auction record for a Turkish contemporary work is now Orhon’s 1961 oil on canvas ‘Untitled’, which sold for a little under GBP200,000. Ceylan’s hyper-realist cover lot of a bloodied boxer did well, fetching GBP70,000. Turkish works will also be appearing at this April’s Christie’s ‘International Modern and Contemporary Art’ sale in Dubai, this month, so more records might be on the way.

In addition to its London activities, Sotheby’s has been very busy in the Gulf. The 19 March sale of ‘Arts of the Islamic World’ at the Ritz Carlton Doha had its own catalogue for a deluxe selection of 17 items. Everything was exquisite, including a 17th Persian carpet with a very superior provenance – Thyssen Bornemisza. All the stops have been pulled out for Qatar.

At a time when many auction catalogues are looking comparatively dowdy, Sotheby’s created an elegantly slim volume for another carpet. The ‘Pearl Carpet of Baroda’ received this special treatment mostly because it is an extraordinarily rare and valuable item, but also because there is a local connection; the 1.5 million pearls that went into its creation are from the coast of Qatar and Bahrain. It came just after the Islamic sale, presumably because it was so special. For an object that had been commissioned by one of India’s leading Hindu rulers, the Maharaja of Baroda, it had some surprisingly Islamic credentials: an identical sister carpet was created to cover the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina.



Bonhams ‘Islamic and Indian Art’ on 2 April also has a mini-catalogue for a single lot. In general, the offerings are solid, mainstream fare, but special treatment is handed out for an exceptional gem-set finial from the throne of Tipu Sultan. The romance and the drama of this 18th century ruler never fail to ignite the public imagination. No estimate is revealed for this eye-catching and extremely rare piece of Indian history. At only 7 cm high, it has a lot of presence, partly because of the number of jewels. Shaped like a tiger’s head, the teeth are also fashioned from small diamonds. Will it be bought by Vijay Mallya, who has taken so much Tipu Sultan material back to India? He has also done his patriotic duty by buying Mahatma Gandhi’s bits and pieces for US$1.8 million.

One or two Tipu specialists have expressed their surprise about such an important piece surfacing so unexpectedly, but the finial appears to be accompanied by a reliable and rather glamorous provenance. Weaving more of a story round it for the Bonhams magazine is the engaging historian William Dalrymple.

Among the less expensive curiosities at Bonhams is a collection of Qajar-dynasty stationery and postcards. Interesting to see the small changes that have been made to the Iranian flag. The colours have remained the same since the 19th century, but the lion in the centre has been replaced by a symbol that is supposed to be Islamic but may well have its roots in Zoroastrian or Indian tradition.

For this season’s Islamic sales, the fiesta started early at Christie’s. Instead of being the usual April sale, it was held at the end of March. The number of lots was about half of what it had been last October. As with the other auction houses, the estimates seemed reasonable, but unlike the others, the number of premium items was not down. The final word on Christie’s should go to the French office for the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge sale.

While the media was focusing on rogue bidders from China, the Islamic lots sold extremely well. No writeups have mentioned results that saw trophy hunters paying more than twice the estimate, sometimes ten times. A strange feature of Sain Laurent’s Islamic works is how a man of such gentle nature could have so much passion for Mughal daggers. No cultural repatriation issues were raised by the governments of India or Pakistan.


DEMON LOVERS

Back in London, one can be sure that art of the Islamic world is finding a wider audience when Rossi & Rossi has an exhibition of Iranian artists. This Mayfair gallery has built an impressive reputation almost exclusively on Himalayan art. For April, the very Himalayan-sounding ‘Demons and D-Artboards’ features the work of Malekeh Nayiny and Fereydoun Ave.

Both artists are from Iran, although Ave has experimented with Tibetan prayer wheels in his latest work. He has not always been appreciated by the authorities in Iran and he certainly won’t be welcomed in China. Transforming the image of peaceable prayer wheels into dartboards, the bull’s eye is occupied by the Chinese leader who did more than any other to destroy the identity of Tibet. This is the Great Helmsman as you never see him in art from China.

Nayiny, on the other hand, has adopted a different sort of playfulness. Continuing the theme of demons, he has taken the ‘Divs’ from the epic poem Shahnameh and updated them. These are charming rather than alarming digital C-prints. As the artist says, “I suppose one way to tackle the Divs is to reminisce about them through the decades of one's life: you see them as a child, great big lumps of flesh with polka dots being bashed about by some muscle-bound champ like Rostam [hero from the Shahnameh] and you feel mildly sorry for them as they look as innocuous as fat uncles in fancy dress.”


TRIPLE TREAT
One of the great publishing events of the Islamic-art world has just happened. The long-awaited Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture is now available at a list price of almost US$400. This three-volume set from Oxford University Press is edited by the inseparable husband-and-wife team of Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom. With 1,500 entries, it is a definitive contribution to the field. One of the exciting developments is that Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are given some of the attention they deserve.

MALAYSIAN 10th ANNIVERSARY
The culmination of the 10th anniversary of the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia happens this month with a major exhibition. The guest of honour is Malaysia’s new prime minister, who will no doubt be full of praise for the Southeast Asian institution that has done the most to promote Islamic art in the region. Over the past decade, the museum has staged 30 exhibitions and around the same number of publications. With a new generation of Islamic-art museums appearing, especially in the Middle East, the IAMM now counts as among the most established of the handful of such establishments that exist.