This auction has ended. View lot details

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Eclectic Wonders: The Collection of Timothy Egert

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

£50,000 - £80,000

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

£40,000 - £60,000

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

£20,000 - £30,000

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

£50,000 - £80,000

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

£12,000 - £15,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

11 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) Study of a Rural Family

£15,000 - £25,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

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

£100,000 - £150,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

13 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) Public Bath

£40,000 - £60,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

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

£50,000 - £80,000

15^* — Sliman Mansour (Palestine, born 1947) Woman From Bethlehem

£60,000 - £80,000

16^* — Etel Adnan (Lebanon, 1925-2021) Belles Creatures

£60,000 - £80,000

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

£30,000 - £40,000

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

£40,000 - £60,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

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

£30,000 - £50,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

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

£4,000 - £6,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

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

£4,000 - £6,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

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

£4,000 - £6,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

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

£2,000 - £3,000

Previous Lot

Next Lot

Chaouki Choukini (Lebanon, born 1947) High Columns image 1

Chaouki Choukini (Lebanon, born 1947) High Columns image 2

Chaouki Choukini (Lebanon, born 1947) High Columns image 3

Lot 64

Chaouki Choukini
(Lebanon, born 1947)

Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art

24 November 2020, 15:00 GMT

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £17,750 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Shipping (UK)

Tel: +44 20 7468 8302

shipping@bonhams.com

Chaouki Choukini (Lebanon, born 1947)

High Columns
wooden sculpture
signed "Choukini", executed in 2015, this work is unique
60 x 27cm (23 5/8 x 10 5/8in).

Footnotes

Provenance:
Property from a private collection, Paris

"This Lebanese artist arrived in France directly from his village in South Lebanon. At the time, he carved strange, imaginary and soberly baroque constructions in wood. The formal evidence, on the borderline with fantasy, imposed itself: these sculptures simultaneously appear as irrational monuments, checkerboards for games of chance, figures that are interlocked and involved with a sort of big metaphysical game.

Since then, Choukini has divested himself to the advantage of curves and surface planes. He uses the material as a keyboard and extracts from it powerful and delicate formal compositions on which are displayed a figural suggestion, almost at the second degree. The word 'keyboard' is even more so appropriate here as it also translates the sought after and achieved effect, that of music, which is simple and pure similar to a melody, yet sometimes more complex and almost like an orchestra. The mute music present in Choukini's sculptures is a challenge to the absurd canon that fatally shoots here and there to kill, without succeeding, Lebanon's soul and body, which stands like a strong and tender mountain, just like the sculptures and sculptor I have here mentioned.

After forty years of career as a sculptor, Chaouki Choukini has always remained true to himself. This man who came from Lebanon, a country of rocks and sun, always pays close attention to the sincerity of objects and shapes, sometimes giving priority to the music of the material, other times to objective representation. This ingenious balance makes each and every one of Choukini's creations quake with emotion. Choukini's sculpture reveals the poetic, yet often so tragic, strangeness of our condition."

- Salah Stetie

Additional information

This auction is now finished. If you are interested in consigning in future auctions, please contact the specialist department. If you have queries about lots purchased in this auction, please contact customer services.
Buyers' Obligations
ALL BIDDERS MUST AGREE THAT THEY HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD BONHAMS' CONDITIONS OF SALE AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THEM, AND AGREE TO PAY THE BUYER'S PREMIUM AND ANY OTHER CHARGES MENTIONED IN THE NOTICE TO BIDDERS. THIS AFFECTS THE BIDDERS LEGAL RIGHTS.
If you have any questions about the Conditions of Sale, please contact your nearest client services team.
From 28 June 2025, the import into the EU of non-EU property of a certain age (and in some categories above a certain value) is subject to additional requirements. Under the relevant EU Regulation, it is the Buyer's sole responsibility to assess whether any Lot meets the criteria for import into the EU. The refusal of any required Import Licence or Importer Statement, or any delay in obtaining such Licence or Statement shall not give rise to the rescission or cancellation of any Sale, nor allow any delay in making full payment for the Lot.
Buyers' Premium and Charges
For all Sales categories, buyer's premium excluding Cars, Motorbikes, Wine, Whisky and Coin & Medal sales, will be as follows:
Buyer's Premium Rates
28% on the first £40,000 of the hammer price;
27% of the hammer price of amounts in excess of £40,000 up to and including £800,000;
21% of the hammer price of amounts in excess of £800,000 up to and including £4,500,000;
and 14.5% of the hammer price of any amounts in excess of £4,500,000.
A 3rd party bidding platform fee of 4% of the Hammer Price for Buyers using the following bidding platforms will be added to the invoices of successful Buyers for auctions starting on or after 6th July 2024 – Invaluable; Live Auctioneers; The Saleroom; Lot-tissimo.
VAT at the current rate of 20% will be added to the Buyer's Premium and charges excluding Artists Resale Right.
Payment Notices
For payment information please refer to the sale catalog.
Shipping Notices
For information and estimates on domestic and international shipping as well as export licenses please contact Bonhams Shipping Department.
- Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art