LONDON.- There was fierce bidding for works from the Walid Juffali Collection at Bonhams Impressionist & Modern Art sale yesterday evening (1 March). The collection made more than £1.7million – 30 per cent higher than its top presale estimate - in a sale totalling £4,924,375.

The 15 paintings came from the collection of the late Saudi Arabian businessman and art connoisseur, Walid Juffali. Highlights included: Les Enfants by Foujita which sold for £386,750 (estimate £70,000-90,000); Homme á l’agneau et musician by Picasso which made £175,000 (estimate £120,000-180,000), and Gros oiseau, Picasso also by Picasso which sold for £150,000 (estimate £40,000-60,000).

Bonhams Global Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, India Phillips said, “Walid Juffali was one of Saudi Arabia’s most significant collectors. He had an astonishing eye for quality, and I was not surprised that the interest in the works was so strong and the prices paid so high.”

Among other works in the sale were:

• El torrent de la Jornetta, an early work by Salvador Dali from a distinguished Spanish collection, which sold for £578,750.

• Un bal champêtre by Raoul Dufy, sold for £478,750.

• Für Herbert Read by Kurt Schwitters which sold for £106,250 (estimate £70,000-90,000). The work had been given by the artist to the eminent art historian Herbert Read in 1944, in gratitude for the support Read had provided when Schwitters arrived in London as a refugee earlier in the war. It had been in the Read family ever since.

More works from the Juffali collection will be offered at Bonhams Post-War and Contemporary Sale in London on Wednesday 7 March, and at The Walid Juffali Collection sale at Bishopsgate House, Surrey on Monday 26 March.