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Eclectic Wonders: The Collection of Timothy Egert

6^* — Louay Kayyali (Syria, 1934-1978) The Young Lovers (Al Ashiqan Al Saghiran)

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7^* — Naim Ismail (Syria, 1930-1979) Hayy ibn Yaqzan (Alive, son of Awake)

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8^* — Saliba Douaihy (Lebanon, 1915-1994) Mar Gerges Church, Ehden

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9^* — Jewad Selim (Iraq, 1919-1961) Still life with Statuette

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10^* — Mamdouh Kashlan (Syria, 1929-2022) Before The Light Fades (Kabl An Yazoul Al Djaw)

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12 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) Mother and Child

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14 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) H20 + AG + AiR (From the Quantum Realism Series)

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17^* — Saloua Raouda Choucair (Lebanon, 1916-2017) Untitled (from the Repetitive Dual series)

£30,000 - £50,000

18^*,AR — Chaouki Choukini (Lebanon, born 1946) Equation Existentielle

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19^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Al Shamr

£40,000 - £60,000

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20^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Arabic Image II

£30,000 - £50,000

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21^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Drawings Consecrated to Love

£4,000 - £6,000

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22^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Horse

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23^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Composition

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24^AR — Shafic Abboud (Lebanon, 1926-2004) Le Cafe a Gien

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Lot 38^*

Massoud Arabshahi
(Iran, born 1935)
Abstract Composition in Brown

Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art

26 April 2017, 15:00 BST

London, New Bond Street

£30,000 - £40,000

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Massoud Arabshahi (Iran, born 1935)

Abstract Composition in Brown
oil on canvas
signed "Arabshahi" and dated "1974" in Farsi (upper right)
120 x 110cm (47 1/4 x 43 5/16in).

Footnotes

Provenance:
Property from a private collection, Dubai

Massoud Arabshahi is one of the key protagonists of the Iranian neo-traditionalist movement, and notably one of the few artists of his generation to pursue this agenda through abstraction and not calligraphy. Fascinated by the textual, architectural and mathematical elements of traditional Persian imagery, Arabshahi's work is punctuated by motifs which carry strong metaphorical significance. All this is done with an unequivocally modern and wholly abstract aesthetic.

The pseudo-figurative crowned central figure that Arabshahi employs in the present work recall the depictions of ancient Persian Kings in rock reliefs of the kind found at Persepolis, Behistun and Pasargade. The mixture of geometrical and angular shapes, zoomorphic and anthropic forms all contain esoteric significance for Arabshahi. An artist enraptured by the recurrence of symbols, his works are riddled with semiotic iconography: arc shapes denote the perfection of celestial geometry and abstract glyphs recall ancient Persian cuneiform, their indiscernibly a testament to the extinction of the culture that once gave them meaning.

For millennia human art has demonstrated the ability to reflect, narrate, and signify meaning through signs and symbols. Arabshahi's compositions ultimately remind us that regardless of the age we live in, or our varying modes of expression and communication, we all have the innate propensity to invest in symbols and images, elements of our collective consciousness uncapturable in words.

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- Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art