Iranian Artists at Bonhams London 2022

Bonhams auction house hosted an auction event titled "Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art Including On The Banks of the Nile" on May 24, 2022, in London. Bonhams is an international auction house with private ownership founded in 1793. The main auction spaces of Bonhams are located in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong; however, there are also other auctions held by Bonhams in Edinburgh, Paris, San Francisco, and Sydney. According to Cassi Young, one of the senior specialists in Bonhams, some of the artworks put on sale in this auction house belong to private collections which have remained hidden for long times and now Bonhams provides them with the opportunity to be analyzed and sold.        

Bonhams has several departments, such as Asian art, decorative art, jewelry, carpets, books, etc., and includes a wide range of artworks from the classical and modern periods up to contemporary years. In the Islamic and Indian Art department of Bonhams, artworks from the 9th to 19th centuries are included along with modern and contemporary Middle-eastern and South Asian art, such as Arabic and Persian manuscripts, ceramics, metal and glasswork, textiles, and arms.  

Some Iranian artists attended this event, such as Charles Hossein Zenderoudi, Manoucher Yektai, Massoud Arabshahi, Sirak Melkonian, Narges Hashemi, and Reza Derakhshani. Additionally, artworks by artists from Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq are displayed. "Entombment", a painting by Mahmoud Said, has the highest estimated price of £350,000 to £500,000.  

Among the artworks by Iranian artists in this edition, "Who is Watching?", an artwork by Charles Hossein Zenderoudi, has been evaluated with the highest estimated price (£70,000 – £100,000), and Sirak Melkonian, with 3 paintings, has the highest number of artworks.  

Slider 1: Sirak Melkonian | 1973 | Abstract Landscape | 100 × 70 cm | oil on canvas 
Slider 2: Siral Melkonian | 1961 | Untitled | 97 × 69 cm | oil on canvas