The Art Market: Uncertain times in Dubai - FT.com

Mahmoud Saïd’s ‘Pêcheurs à Rashid (Rosette)’ (1941), sold by Christie's in Dubai for $818,500 in October

While Dubai has a successful, well-regarded art fair held each year in March, the rest of the market in the emirate hardly seems buoyant. Bonhams pulled out this year, and Isabelle de la Bruyère, Christie’s director in the Middle East, is relocating to London after the firm’s two auctions this week.
Christie’s has just held its October sessions in the emirate, producing a successful but small Part I sale that totalled $3.6m, slightly short of its high estimate (pre-sale estimates don’t include premium; results do). The lower-value Part II sale made $2.3m, again just short of high estimate.

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