IMAGE DETAILS

Esfahan wool and metal thread rug, Central Persia, 17th century, lot 68, Sotheby's London, 11 October 2004, est: £50-80,000, sold for £60,000

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15 October 2004

This autumn's London Islamic Week, 10-15 October  2004, can be characterised  as interesting, surprising and disappointing. Indeed the Sunday viewing on the weekend prior to the sales, which in the past has been quite a fun, social event, seemed a little quiet but hopes were high since there were a number of eagerly anticipated lots.

The previous week had brought some excellent news for Sotheby's in their Fine Decorative Arts and Design sale on 5 October 2004. Lot 9, the William Morris 'Hammersmith' carpet sold for £193,760 ($346.830) against an estimate of £100-150,000. Still reeling from this success, Sotheby's then unfortunately kicked off the autumn sales week with a rather disappointing sale with only 40% sold by lot and 42% by value. The cover lot (68), the wool and metal thread 17th century Esfahan was a great and unusual piece, provoking a lot of interest before the sale. On the day it sold in room to well known French dealer for a hammer price of £60,000 ($107,400), not really reaching the targets hoped for with an estimate of £50-80,000. Perhaps the metal thread, which was not contemporary to the rug, put people off both aesthetically and financially. In the rest of the sale lot 79, a pale decorative Ushak carpet sold well at £33,600 (estimate £15,000-20,000) which was of note since the word from New York decorative market has been that Ushaks are now yesterday's news. This seems to prove otherwise. It was surprising to see many not bad lots not selling. In the current poor market possibly the sale did not offer what the buyers were looking for but the results did not truly reflect what should have been a better sale result.

The sale of the Berkeley Trust Collection, the following day, was a different story selling 81% by lot and 88% by value and included two record prices for sales at auction. The first was the highest paid for an Ottoman velvet, lot 39, a voided silk velvet and metal thread brocade panel which had an impressively grand scale. With an estimate of £25,000-35,000 it sold for £123,200 ($220,530). Top lot, a portrait of Fath 'Ali Shah, had an estimate of £500-800,000 and went for an astounding £901,600 ($1,613,865) – the highest price paid for a Qajar painting at auction. Numerous textile pieces were also successful, for example, lot 16 a beautifully delicate Safavid brocade fragment made £30,000 against an estimate of £3,000-5,000.

Bonhams carpet sale the same day was relatively unremarkable with 50% sold by lot and 54% sold by value. Top lot was 125, an Agra carpet, which sold for £21,510 ($38,500), not really beating its £20-25,000 estimate. In the Islamic and Indian Art sale on Thursday 14 October results were slightly better. Among the textiles two Ottoman voided velvet and metal thread panels (lots 456, 457) both with estimates of £5,000-7,000, sold well for £14,340 ($25,670) and £16,730 ($29,945).

Christie's held the last of the carpet sales and seemed to fair the best out of the three with 67% sold by lot and 63% sold by value. Top lot was 100, a Kirman 'Vase' carpet with an excellent provenance and entitled "The Lady Baillie 'Vase' carpet". It did not sell in the room but had already been sold by private treaty before the sale for £285,250 ($510,600) on its low estimate. Lot 99, a beautiful 16th century Tabriz Medallion carpet was also rather successful, making £83,650 ($149,735) against an estimate of £60-80,000.

Overall, the Christie's sale showed good results and ended the week off on a more positive note, which is good news indeed.