Tehran Auction is the major venue in Iran for marketing artworks, classical or contemporary, by big names or no-names, old, young or no longer living, priced as low as 30 million to over 4 billion tomans.
The Auction, which was launched as a private initiative in June 2012, held its 12th edition at its usual venue at the luxurious Azadi Hotel in the northern part of the capital on Friday evening, January 17.
As many as 700 people were present in the room, including 153 registered bidders.
In this edition, a collection of 118 classic and modern artworks by 97 artists went under the hammer, consisting 93 paintings, 5 photos and 20 sculptures, and generating 31.717 billion tomans, which roughly equals to $7,551,667 at the official rate ($1 = 42,000 IRR) or $2,883,364 at the market rate ($1 = 110,000 IRR).
115 artworks out of the 118 offered were sold at the auction. Several artists set their national records, including Hossein Zenderoudi, Manouchehr Yektai, Farhad Moshiri, and Parviz Kalantari.
The most expensive piece sold at the 12th Tehran Auction was a 212×174 cm artwork by Hossein Zenderoudi (b. 1937), titled ‘Voute Azurée’ and made of metallic mineral pigments and acrylic on canvas in 1987. The work was estimated at 30-40 billion IRR, and was hammered at 32 billion IRR (roughly $290,910 at the market rate.)
The work had been previously offered at Sotheby’s Auction in May 2019 in Paris.
The next most expensive work was a restored 117×97 cm oil on canvas painting by Manouchehr Yektai (1922-2019), titled ‘Still Life’. The work was estimated at 15-20 billion IRR and was sold at 19 billion IRR ($172,728 MR).
The work had previously taken part at Sotheby's Auction in Oct. 2016, London, and the 5th Tehran Auction in 2016.
The next billion-worth artwork was a 202×187 cm oil and acrylic on canvas painting by Farhad Moshiri (b. 1963), titled ‘Am I Dreaming or Am I Awake’ and executed in 2018. The artwork was sold at 16 billion IRR ($145,455 MR).
Other notable works that were hammered at billion tomans were an ‘Untitled’ unique metal sculpture by Jazeh Tabatabai (1930-2008) sold at 11 billion IRR ($100,000 MR), a ‘Mirror Ball’ made of mirror mosaic and reverse-glass painting on plaster and wood by Monir (Shahroudy) Farmanfarmaian (1922-2019), also sold at 11 billion IRR, a fiberglass sculpture by Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937) titled ‘From the Heech on Chair series’, sold at 10 billion IRR ($90,910 MR), and an ‘Untitled’ painting by Faramarz Pilaram (1936-1983), executed in 1977 and sold at 10 billion IRR.
Other works were hammered at under ten billion rials. The least-priced work sold at the Auction last night was an Untitled acrylic on canvas painting by Iraj Shayestehpour (b. 1946), sold at 280 million IRR ($2,546 MR).
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