Masterpieces from Ottoman auctioned

ISTANBUL

Yakut İbn-i Abdü’l Musta’sımi’s eight-century-old ‘Kıtab-ı Usbiyye/Seven Day Prayer’ was sold for 55,000 Turkish Liras at the auction, which offered 384 pieces for sale.

The seventh copy of the 800-year-old “Kıtab-ı Usbiyye/Seven Day Prayer” by Yakut İbn-i Abdü’l Musta’sımi, the founder of the art of calligraphy, was sold for 550,000 Turkish Liras at an auction held over the weekend by Istanbul’s Asar-I Atika Art Gallery. 

“The work came to the Ottoman Empire around 1200-1300 and was kept since then by a family,” said the owner of the gallery, Can Önen. The work was put up for sale for the first time ever.
Some 384 pieces from the Ottoman era were put up for auction, which was the largest Ottoman masterpiece auction in the last 10 years. 

The oil painting “Langa Bostanı” by Nazmi Ziya, one of the most important Ottoman representatives of impressionism, was put up for sale for 900,000 liras in the auction and was eventually sold for 650,000 liras. 
Also, an 18th-century gilding metal brazier was sold for 260,000 liras. 

Paintings by Şevket Dağ, İbrahim Çallı, Ömer Adil, Devrim Erbil, Zeki Ormancı, Selim Turan, Burhan Uygur, Nejad Melih Devrim and Nuri İyem also went on sale at the event.