Dubai: The art market in Dubai is still growing, according to recent figures.
Auction house Christie’s Dubai said Tuesday it sold $29.3 million worth of art and watches in 2014, up 58 per cent compared with 2013, mainly due to a higher number of collectors bidding and strong consignments.
The London-based company has two auction seasons each year in March and October.
The top lot last year was Construction of the Suez Canal by Egyptian artist Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar, which was sold for $1,023,750, ten times its estimate of between $100,000 and $150,000, according to a statement on Tuesday.
The modern and contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish art sales were led by consignments from artists’ private collections, including the Pharos collection of modern Egyptian art and the Maath Alousi collection of Iraqi paintings.
There is a wider group of collectors in the region than there was five years ago as the appetite for art grows, Michael Jeha, Managing Director of Christie’s Dubai, told Gulf News in an emailed statement.
Christie’s said the Middle Eastern client base grew by 23 per cent in 2014 compared with 2013. Demand for art in the region comes from both local and international clients.
Also, collector’s tastes have changed since Christie’s started holding sales in the region in 2006, Jeha said.
“Clients [are] seeking out masterpieces, that unique work of art that will complete their collection. When these quality works come up, Middle Eastern collectors are prepared to compete to acquire them,” he said.
Christie’s watch sale expanded last year, featuring 100 per cent more watches in March, and recording a 50 per cent growth in lots in October. Both sales were sold at 95 per cent, according to the statement.
The top watch sold last year was a platinum Patek Philippe wristwatch, which sold for $341,000.
Christie’s sale next March is expected to feature around 125 works.
Globally, Christie’s sold $8.4 billion worth of art, up 17 per cent from a year earlier, driven by “an increase in activity across all geographies and strong sales of works of the highest quality, particularly in the Post-War & Contemporary Art, Impressionist & Modern Art and Jewellery departments,” the company said in the statement.