ISTANBUL.- Artam Antik A.S., the leading Turkish auction house, will offer exceptional paintings by the most important Turkish masters. The auction will take place on December 16, 2012 at the Swissotel the Bosphorus and will present selected 225 lots. The cover lot highlight being offered in the sale is titled “A Girl Arranging a Vase of Flowers”, a spectacular canvas by Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910), the most important and most popular Turkish artist. Oil on canvas, 47 x 25 cm, signed and dated 1883, the magnificent Osman Hamdi Bey painting has a starting price of 1,000,000 USD. Not only the strong provenance and the attractive theme but also the painting is one of the most well known Turkish paintings, it is an icon for Turkish painting history. This remarkable canvas will be on sale for the first time in 100 years and it has been seen lastly in 1957 at an exhibition of Osman Hamdi Bey at Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum.
One of the other highlight of the sale is famous orientalist Alberto Pasini’s important canvas “Market Place in Istanbul” the opening bid is 200,000 dollars. Another important oriantalist artist Rudolf Ernst “Turkish Bath” will be auctioned also with a starting price of 200,000 dollars. Suleyman Seyyid’s still life painting and Istanbul paintings of Fausto Zonaro, Hikmet Onat, İbrahim Çallı will be in the sale on 16th of December.
Turgay Artam, auctioneer of the sale, said “the sale is giving buyers an opportunity to own museum quality masterpieces. The top lot Osman Hamdi Bey’s “A Girl Arranging a Vase of Flowers” is an extraordinary painting which has never been in the market before. Not only being a popular canvas from the artist’s most popular “girls” series, it has a significant place between the master characteristics of the artists and his personal life. Such a painting is rarely seen outside of a museum.” Artam also invites all those who appreciate quality art to view the display before the sale.Antik A.S. Chairman of the board, Turgay Artam is organizing the auction which will be held at the Swissotel The Bosphorus Istanbul. Artam Antik A.S. is the country’s leading fine-art auction house by revenue and by the top lots sold in every field. Holding all the major auction records for Modern&Contemporary Turkish Art, Classical Turkish Paintings, Orientalists and Ottoman Art, locally, top 10 most expensive Turkish works of arts have been sold at Antik A.Ş. auction rooms. Worldwide 7 out of 10 most expensive Turkish art works have been sold at the Antik ‘s salerooms, the other 2 in Sotheby’s and 1 in Bonhams. Antik A.S. is also the leading auction house for Modern & Contemporary Turkish Art by revenue, records and totals. Several records were set In 2012 Erol Akyavaş’s “I am the Truth” sold for 1.25 million Euro and became the most expensive Modern & Contemporary Turkish Art.
Important part of the auction will cover exceptional works of Turkish calligraphy. Calligraphists like Yakut Mustasimi, Hafız Osman, Kazasker Mustafa İzzet, Hasan Rıza, İsmail Hakkı Altunbezer and Hasan Çelebi works will be on the sale 16th of December sale. A special catalogue has been prepared for the collection including Ottoman arts 19th century European Art and furniture, which will be on displayed at the Antik A.S. main building, Istanbul.
The works can be viewed until the 15th of December at Antik A.Ş.
