Dubai: Interest in art auctions is enjoying a steady increase as Christie's latest sale broke 42 world auction records for its modern and contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish art on Tuesday.
"The solid results for both the art and the jewellery sales are an indication that the art market in the Middle East continues to mature and attract an increasingly international and local following," said Michael Jeha, managing director of Christie's Middle East.
"Perhaps the most encouraging sign that this market and the interest in it continues to grow, was the many new faces we saw at our pre-sale exhibition and for the auctions themselves," he said. According to Isabelle de la Bruyere, director of Christie's Middle East, the picture sale performed far above its high pre-sale estimate of $6 million (Dh22.03 million), due to the fact that 66 lots sold above their high estimate mark. Some works made three to six times their pre-sale estimates.
"This demonstrates that these works of art are collected today by a wider group of collectors than a couple of seasons ago," she said.
The tenth sales for Christie's Dubai based auction house totalled Dh44 million, refleting an increased interest in contemporary art from the Middle East sales.
New approach
"We chose to follow a slightly different course in the make-up of this, our tenth sale season, by focusing on stellar contemporary works as much as on the remaining modern masterpieces.
"With five of these works making it into the top ten, it is clear that this is exactly what collectors are looking for," said Jeha.
