Islamic Art

S otheby’s has been a leader in the sale of Qur’ans, manuscripts, and Islamic art since 1755, when the auction house first offered Islamic manuscripts as part of an Oxford academic’s library. Today, the biannual Islamic Week in London, held each April and October, stands as a central event in the global Islamic art calendar, drawing collectors, curators, and connoisseurs from around the world. Sotheby’s continues to present an extensive range of classical arts from the Middle East, North Africa, India, and the wider Islamic world, including rare Qur’ans, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscripts, miniature paintings, ceramics, metalwork, glass, jewellery, arms and armour, and other exceptional decorative arts.

Throughout its history, Sotheby’s has been entrusted with many of the most important private collections of Islamic and Indian art to appear on the market. These landmark sales include the Kevorkian Foundation Collection (1967–83); the Bachofen von Echt Collection of Indian Painting (1992); the British Rail Pension Fund Collection (1994 and 1996); the Aryeh Family Collection (1999); the Berkeley Trust Collection (2004); A Princely Collection (2010); the Stuart Cary Welch Collection Parts I and II (2011); the Sven Gahlin Collection (2015); the Khosrovani-Diba Collection (2016); the Howard Hodgkin Collection (2017); the Shakerine Collection (2019); In an Indian Garden: The Carlton Rochell Collection of Company School Paintings (2021); and the Edith and Stuart Cary Welch Collection (2023). These sales have reinforced Sotheby’s position as the premier global marketplace for Islamic art.

Sotheby’s also holds multiple auction records in the field. In 2022, the auction house achieved £8.1 million for a folio from the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, the highest price ever achieved for an Islamic work on paper. In October 2024, an exceptional Umayyad bronze buck sold for £4.2 million, setting a record for early Islamic sculpture, while a blue-and-white Iznik pottery charger reached £5.4 million in 2018, marking the highest price for an Iznik ceramic.

Based in London, Sotheby’s international Islamic Art team includes four senior specialists who collaborate with colleagues across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and India. Alongside pre-sale exhibitions in London, the department hosts travelling previews in New York and Dubai, offering collectors worldwide the opportunity to view works in person and engage with Sotheby’s specialists.