Egyptian statue heads to Sharjah as lawsuit ends
A bronze Egyptian statue, the subject of a 16-month legal battle between Sultan Al Qassemi and auction house Sotheby’s, is set to go on display in the UAE.
The sculpture, Au Bord du Nil
(On the Banks of the Nile) by Mahmoud Mokhtar, will go on display at the Barjeel Art Foundation at Sharjah Art Museum.
The issue hinged on the date on which the bronze work was cast, which would have placed it within the artist’s lifetime or after his death, bringing financial implications.
Lawyers for Mr Al Qassemi, of Sharjah, and Charles Pocock of Meem Gallery, a dealer in Dubai who acquired the work for Mr Al Qassemi, told The National that the “claim has now been amicably settled between the parties on confidential terms and without any admission of liability or wrongdoing on either side”.
The bronze statue by Egyptian modernist Mokhtar was bought by Mr Al Qassemi at auction at Sotheby’s New York in April 2016 for £725,000 (Dh3.6 million).
Afterwards, Mr Al Qassemi, the founder of Barjeel Art Foundation, and Mr Pocock said they were given a foundry report from the auction house that contradicted the information in the catalogue.
The report, from the Susse Foundry in France, suggested the cast was made after 1935, but Mokhtar died in 1934. A posthumous cast is worth much less.
Sotheby’s said the date given by the catalogue of “circa 1920s” was sufficiently vague to allow for a later date, and that the foundry report was later revised.
Another complication emerged over a potential conflict of interest. The cast’s consignor, New York art dealer Nesreen Farag, is the mother of the Sotheby’s specialist who brokered the sale, Mai Eldib. Ms Farag was added in April as a defendant in the case.
Mr Al Qassemi and Mr Pocock requested a refund for the work, saying Sotheby’s breached its code of conduct.