Tehran Auction ends with record $4.35 mln sale

The 17th edition of the Tehran Auction setting a remarkable record with the sale of 100 art pieces worth more than 2.11 trillion rials (nearly $4.35 million).

Iranart: Tehran Auction held its 17th auction, presenting Modern and Contemporary Iranian art at the Azadi Hotel, Tehran, Iran. A total sale of 4,224,200 USD was achieved, which once again proves that this economic art event has achieved its goal of delivering prosperity to the country's art market. 

The auction offered 110 works by 100 artists consisting of 97 paintings, 9 sculptures and 4 photographs. A total of 100 works were sold which was %91 by lot. There were 154 registered bidders, of which %40 were first time buyers.

An astounding 91% of the artworks found new owners during the event, and one particular masterpiece, the “Untitled” by renown Iranian poet and painter Sohrab Sepehri, sold for nearly $426,000-- a new record in the Iranian art market.

Following closely behind was an artwork by Kourosh Shishegaran, which sold for approximately $340,000.

Another remarkable piece from Sohrab Sepehri’s acclaimed “Lonely Trees” series claimed the third spot, fetching approximately $248,000.

The work "Square and Triangles" by Mounir Shahroudi Farmanfarmaian was sold for $196,000

in this auction, Aydin Aghdashloo's "1319" painting was sold for $160,000. Aghdashloo is an Iranian painter, graphist, art curator, writer, and film critic. His art works are known for showing the thought of gradual death and doom and also recreating remarkable classic works in a modern and surrral form. His two series Termination Memories and Years of Fire and Snow are considered part of the most important series of modern Iranian art.

Also, A painting by Sadegh Tabrizi was sold for $44,000. Sadegh Tabrizi, a painter and calligrapher, who is considered one of the prominent figures of the Saqakhaneh and calligraphy movement, was born in 1939 in Tehran. Tabrizi learned the basic principles of calligraphy from professors such as Kimia Qalam and Ali Akbar Kaveh and then studied miniature painting at the Tehran Academy of Fine Arts. He has a BA in Painting from the School of Decorative Arts and a MA in Interior Design.

The auctioneer was Mr. Hossein Pakdel. The top 5 sales were as follows: