Fifty million dirhams total sales of Christie's auction and the most expensive antique watch sold in the Middle East

Christie's revealed that its auction season for the month of March 2017 in Dubai, which concluded two days ago, collected a total of 13,437,688 American dollar/ 49,343,190 AED. The International Auctions House stated that the auction of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern artworks, which was held on the evening of Saturday, March 18, at the conclusion of the "Art Week", collected a total of 8.079.375 million US dollars / 29.667.465 dirhams, and the auction witnessed a wide competition between veteran and new collectors. Around the world, the auction also witnessed 18 world records for plastic artists from the Middle East, including the Lebanese plastic artist Marwan Shamrani (born 1970), and the Syrian plastic artist Nazir Nabaa (1941 - 2016); Iraqi plastic artist Mahmoud Sabry (1927 - 2012); and Iranian plastic artist Kourosh Sheshigaran (born 1945). While the auction of important watches held by Christie's on the evening of Sunday, March 19, a total of  5,358,313 American dollar/ 19,675,725 The auction achieved the highest sales of a watch auction in the Middle East, and witnessed the sale of the most expensive watch ever sold at an auction in the Middle East. After the painting of the Egyptian plastic artist Mahmoud Saeed (1897-1964) entitled “Aswan - Islands and Dunes”, coupled with its preliminary preparatory drawing, the focus of the collectors’ attention before the auction, the painting was sold for 685.500 US dollars / 2.517.156 dirhams, which is three times Its initial estimated value prior to the auction. At the important watch auction, the Patek Philippe watch with the reference number shone 2499/100 Made in 1981 and sold for approx 500,000 American dollar/ 1,842,500 AED to be the most expensive antique watch sold in the Middle East.

The 22nd Christie's Auction season in Dubai attracted the interest of collectors representing XNUMX countries around the world, and the most prominent paintings participating in the modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art auction were owned by collectors from the UAE, Lebanon, Canada and the United Kingdom. A large number of collectors participating in the auction hall, over the phone, or through the electronic bidding platform competed during the auction of artworks. Christie's LIVEThe percentage of new participants in Christie's auctions was 12%, while the percentage of participants via the electronic platform was 43% in the two auctions that were held over two consecutive evenings.

On this occasion, Michael Geha, CEO of Christie’s in the Middle East, said: “Christie’s is proud to have taken the throne of art auctions in the region after holding regular auctions in Dubai for 12 consecutive years, and our last auction season is an extension of our journey and successive successes. A new collection that caught the attention of collectors around the world, and contributed to the attractiveness of the art market in the Middle East in the eyes of new collectors. It was remarkable in the last auction that collectors around the world competed for the works of plastic artists in the region, led by Mahmoud Saeed, the first plastic artist from the Middle East to issue a comprehensive book on him accompanied by detailed explanations of all his works co-authored by our colleague Valerie Hass. Likewise, the appetite of watch collectors in the region increased as the important watch auction with which we concluded our March auction season saw a new record set for the most expensive antique watch in the region, with collectors competing for vintage as well as rare watches. Not only that, but the watch auction achieved the highest sales in the history of watch auctions in the region. The competition was fierce not only among the bidders in the hall, but also over the phone and the Internet. Christie’s long-term commitment to the region is unparalleled and we build on all that has been achieved so far.”