“the extended bidding had captivated the saleroom until the hammer fell on the record price”*
arabnews.com – DUBAI: A 12th-century candlestick has broken the record for an Islamic object at auction at Sotheby’s, following its sale as part of the Arts of the Islamic World & India auction this week. The silver-inlaid brass candlestick, which was made in Northern Iraq circa 1275, soared to $9.1 million during a 25-minute bidding battle on Wednesday, 28th of October 2021.
The price represents a new record for an Islamic object at auction at the famed British auction house, beating the previous record for an Islamic object held by the “Debbane” Iznik Charger, which sold at Sotheby’s for $6.9 million in 2018.
The auction house said the candlestick is the finest example of Islamic metalwork to appear on the market in over ten years, adding that it has been in the same private collection since the 1960s and was recently exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The decorations on the object include a stately parade of courtiers and musicians.
thenationalnews.com: A 13th-century candlestick broke Sotheby’s record at auction for an object from the Islamic art world when it sold for £6.6 million ($9.1 million) after a 25-minute bidding contest. Described by the renowned auction house as:
“the finest example of Islamic metalwork to appear on the market in over 10 years”
*Sotheby’s said the extended bidding had “captivated the saleroom” until the hammer fell on the record price. Sotheby’s chairman for the Middle East and India told The National the figure was “fully justified”, calling the piece:
“the best of the best”
Made in what is now northern Iraq in about 1275, the ornament had been held in the same private collection since the 1960s and was recently exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Edward Gibbs, Chairman | Head of Department, Middle East and India, Sotheby’s, said:
“The results reflect the health of the market-driven by strong demand for top pieces. The silver and the gold-inlaid candlestick was the best of its kind: rare and beautiful and of a quality worthy of a major museum,”
BAck in May 1993, another candlestick base made the headlines also, independent.co.uk called it “Islamic candlestick sets record: Discovery of medieval Turkish artefact” due to its Turkic and Islamic art (pottery and metalwork) origins.
News continued to describe the candlestick as “a blue and white pottery candlestick which had been left with the Regent Street branch of the TSB as collateral for a loan set a new auction record for an Islamic work of art at Sotheby’s last week when it made pounds 617,500. The bank had sent it for sale expecting to collect about pounds 200,000. It has turned out to be one of the very earliest products of the Turkish/Ottoman potteries established at Iznik, 60 miles southeast of Istanbul, in about 1480. The existence of such a candlestick had been known to scholars from a 1903 publication when it was in a French collection. Since then it had not been sighted.”
Dr John Carswell, Sotheby’s Islamic expert, said:
“To walk into a local bank and get shown the piece was like finding a lost Rembrandt”
Other Islamic Candlestick Bases:
A large brass candlestick base
( Syria or Iraq, 14th Century)
(Image Source)
Brass; cast, engraved candlestick base
(Iraq or Iran, 14th Century)
(Image Source)
Silver-gold inlaid brass Candlestick Base
( Iraq, 14th Century)
(Image Source)
Fine brassware 12-sided candlestick
( Iran, 1220-1240)
(Image Source)
Brass, inlaid, copper-silver Candlestick Base
(Iran, 12-13th Century)
(Image Source)
Brass, engraved, gold-silver and black substance inlaid
( Iraq, 14th Century)
(Image Source)