The auction hosted at Tehran’s Parsian Azadi Hotel featured 78 classic and modern artworks.
A work by Parviz Tanavoli, Iranian sculptor, painter and scholar, was sold for 32 billion rials ($246,153) to become the most valuable sale in this round, Honar Online reported.
Works by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian and Sohrab Sepehri fetched the next highest prices with 30 billion rials ($230,769) and 22 billion rials ($169,230), respectively, according to Financial Tribune.
Tehran Auction was launched in 2012 as an independent, private initiative to introduce the best in Iranian art, ranging from established and emerging Iranian artists to art collectors and the global audience.
It aims to address the increasing interest in modern and contemporary Iranian art and help facilitate the acquisition of quality works through a reliable channel.
The initiative also supports the domestic art market as a key to the international market. The auction closely collaborates with local art galleries and collectors to ensure a vast selection of paintings, sculptures and photographs.
According to Mehr News Agency, 11th Tehran Auction was already jam-packed when it started work at 19:00 p.m., with some bidders forced to remain standing for the entire duration of two and a half hours. As many as 800 people were present in the room, including 140 registered bidders.
The atmosphere of the auction was perhaps a little more subdued than the 10th edition in January, with bidders being extra cautious and contemplative while raising the bid, especially on works that were priced at over 10 billion rials ($76,923).
Although a 10-billion-rial-priced work was removed from the collection, six works did not sell and some were sold at the reserve price, the total proceeds still registered a record high, since as many as 12 works sold far above the set price.
The 10th edition of Tehran Auction racked up an estimated $2.6 million in proceeds, more than double the previous art sale’s proceeds in January 2018.
Before the auction, there was speculation that the sale would attract fewer and less enthusiastic buyers following the return of US sanctions, which precipitated the plunge of the Iranian rial against the US dollar.
But as it turned out, buyers and spectators, including many prominent figures in Iran's art and entertainment industries, packed Tehran's Parsian Azadi Hotel, where the auction was held.
All dollar values in the above text have been converted based on the open market exchange rate of 130,500 rials per dollar as of Saturday.