Roseberys' Antiquities and Islamic Arts sale on Friday 26 April was a great success, achieving an impressive 80% sold rate.
The sale was led by a private collection of manuscripts and calligraphic works from a Qajar noble, 'Abd al-Wahhab Khan, Nizam ul-Mulk (1848-1916) and added to by his descendants until the 1940s. A highlight of the collection was the calligraphic album (Lot 99) in concertina format comprising 20 calligraphies some signed and dated to the mid-18th century achieving £10,000 hammer. A Kashmiri qur’an (Lot 97) from the same collection, estimated at £800-£1,200, achieved £8,000 hammer.
Lot 99: A Qajar calligraphic album, Iran, 16th-19th century, The album in concertina format
Another top result achieved in the manuscripts section of the sale came from a Rajasthani manual on horses (lot 91), lavishly illustrated with 487 paintings depicting various horses' coat colours and their markings, postures, behaviour and paces. Written in the mid-19th century when the love affair with horses in India was at its peak, the Devanagari text achieved £15,000 hammer against an estimate of £6,000-£8,000. It was acquired from the Harnam Singh Hans Collection, Ealing, London, circa 1980 by Francis Edwards Antiquarian Booksellers.
Lot 97: A treatise on horses, Rajasthan, India, circa 1847
Antiquities also had some very strong prices with a standout result for a Hellenistic gold wreath (lot 46) formerly in the collection of Dionysios Loverdos. In ancient Greece, foliate wreaths fashioned from gold, mimicking natural forms such as laurel, myrtle, olive, ivy, and, as here, oak, were given as prizes, worn in processions or in the symposia, dedicated at sanctuaries and buried with the dead. Sanctuary dedications are mentioned in temple treasury lists from as early as the 5th century B.C., but surviving examples are few prior to the 4th century B.C. which helped to encourage strong bidding on the internet and telephone. The wreath hammered an impressive £16,000.
A 7th century Sasanian silver ewer (lot 80) flew from its No Reserve estimate to achieve a hammer price of £9,000 in a frenzy of bidding which came from the room, telephone and internet. The elegant ewer from a private London collection demonstrated the appetite for well-priced beautiful works.
Lot 80: A Sasanian or early Islamic silver ewer, 6th-7th century,
Alice Bailey, Associate Director and Head of Antiquities, Islamic and Indian Arts commented: “We were thrilled by the results, selling 80% of the works of offer and with the top 5 results achieved in both Antiquities and Islamic Art. We look forward to the amazing carpets, Qajar tiles and Ottoman, Safavid and Qajar textiles in the The George Farrow Collection on |June 4th and to our Arts of India sale on June 19th.”
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