Following the success of the April 2010 Dubai sales which totaled $23.7
million against a projection of $15 million, an increase of 113% on the previous
series of sales held in October 2009, Christie's is looking forward to this
week's International Modern & Contemporary Art and Jewels & Watches sales on
October 26 and 27. This encouraging statistic was mirrored last week in London
where the Christie's sale of Post War and Contemporary Art realized $61 million
compared to the $17 million raised for the same category in October 2009.
The strong result in Dubai was due to the spectacular performance of the Dr.
Mohammed Farsi Collection of works by Egyptian artists, offered as part of the
April sale of International Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern art, which
alone realised $8.7 million. The Collection was 100% sold and included Mahmoud
Said's (Egyptian 1897-1964) Les Chadoufs, from1934, which set a record for a
modern painting by any Middle Eastern artist, when it sold for $2,434,500 /
AED8,939,484. This translates into a market share of 73% for Christie's.
