Sotheby's will present rare masterpieces by artists from the Middle East this month in an exhibition that will open to the public in London on April 20 before an auction on April 24. Some of the 20th century works include Recollections I by Monir Farmanfarmaian, Adam and Eve by Mahmoud Said, Bahman Mohasses, I by Bahman Mohasses, Composition Abstraite (Abstract Composition) by Saliba Douaihy, Untitled (Portrait of the Artist's Niece) by Louai Kayali, Bustan Al-Ma'refa (The Orchard of Knowledge) by Shakir Hassan Al-Said, Untitled (Still Life with Pineapple) by Manoucher Yektai, La Clairière (The Meadow) by Antoine Malliarakis Mayo and Untitled (Tree Trunks and Village Scene) by Sohrab Sepehri.
Born in Aleppo, Kayali is considered to be one of the most important Syrian artists of the 20th century. His work, Untitled (Portrait of the Artist's Niece), above, was painted in the 1960s, and depicts his 10-year-old niece with great tenderness and compassion, and comes from the estate of Pearl Baker.
A diplomat and traveller, Baker took a trip to visit her friends in the foreign service in Damascus in 1964, where she was introduced to Kayali, who was there painting portraits for the UN personnel at the time. In her personal memoir, she recalls having bought this painting, which she proudly hung in her living room in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Meanwhile, Said's Adam and Eve will be on auction for the first time. He is renowned as the founder of modern Egyptian art, flouring during a time of intellectual renaissance in the country. This daring, vivid work from 1937 encapsulates the dialogue between the history of art in Europe and the sensuous qualities of the prevailing Egyptian spirit. Inspired by Old Masters such as Lucas Cranach, Baroque artists Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt and the romanticism of Paul Cezanne, Said drew on many influences in a quest for the "magical light" derived from an Egyptian consciousness.
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Read more:
Adrian Ellis on why art scenes are important to civic and national identity
Rise of the art residencies in the UAE
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
Manchester City (0) v Tottenham Hotspur (1), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
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The biog
Favourite book: Men are from Mars Women are from Venus
Favourite travel destination: Ooty, a hill station in South India
Hobbies: Cooking. Biryani, pepper crab are her signature dishes
Favourite place in UAE: Marjan Island
PFA Team of the Year: David de Gea, Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Alonso, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Sergio Aguero
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Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Five films to watch
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Pom Poki (1994)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
Skewed figures
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War
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NO OTHER LAND
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The five pillars of Islam
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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