The auctions include the first ever single-owner Modern and Contemporary Iranian sale, a relaunch of Sotheby’s Middle East Contemporary auction in London and rare and precious works of art from countries under Islamic patronage.

ARTS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD, 20 AprilThe Arts of the Islamic World auction presents beautiful objects which tell the story of over a thousand years of artistic exchange and influence in the Islamic world from China, to India, Persia, Turkey, North Africa and Europe. The sale includes one of the most important collections of early chess pieces to appear at auction, assembled by Lothar Schmid.

A magnificent Ottoman tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, ivory and brass-inlaid scribe's box, Turkey, late 16th century (est. £200,000-300,000)

This opulent box is thought to have been a unique commission made for an individual of refined taste and high rank. Its decoration is characteristic of a richly eclectic period of Ottoman art in the mid/late-sixteenth century when artistic influences were assimilated from its newly- conquered territories and beyond to the furthest reaches of trade. Exploiting this unprecedented influx of ideas, materials and techniques, the maker arrives at a glorious synthesis of design elements fusing Safavid, Mughal, Mamluk and even Chinese influences in the creation of a highly original work of art with a strong degree of experimentation. Of museum-quality importance, this exceptional piece was formerly in a European private collection, the property of an ambassador to Turkey, reputedly received as a gift from the Ottoman sultan in the nineteenth century.

An extremely rare and finely decorated Qur’an leaf in eastern Kufic script, Persia or Central Asia, circa 1075-1125 AD (est. £200,000-300,000)

An example of one of the most striking and beautiful Qur'anic scripts, this folio originates from a Qur'an of majestic elegance and breathtaking graphic power. The decoration of the background of the entire text area throughout the manuscript marks it out as one of the most luxuriously decorated Qur'ans of the medieval period.

Other leaves from this dispersed Qur'an are held in prestigious collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and The Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

The Collection of Octave Borelli BeyOctave Borelli Bey (1849-1911) was a distinguished lawyer, journalist and advisor to the Mehmet ‘Ali Pasha dynasty at the turn of the twentieth century – a time of tremendous change in Egypt. Borelli had a profound effect on the relations between France and Egypt, receiving many honours for his services including the French ‘Légion d’Honneur’ and the Persian ‘Commander of the Lion and Sun’. Returning to France in 1900, he brought back a part of the rich culture in which he had been immersed for 20 years. The collection gives an insight to his unique life and reflects his love and admiration for Egypt’s culture.

The collection is led by a pair of magnificent 14th-century Mamluk carved wood and ivory-inlaid panels from Egypt, which were then mounted as doors in the 19th-century (est. £100,000-120,000). These present an outstanding example of wood carving of the period, with the complexity of the geometric design representative of Islamic mathematical notions.

ALCHEMY: OBJECTS OF DESIRE, 21 AprilThe first-ever single-owner Modern and Contemporary Iranian sale, the collection of a major Iranian artist and curator, Fereydoun Ave, brings together a treasure-trove of artworks from across continents and cultures.

An artist himself - known as an Iranian Warhol - he has also been one of the key figures in the development of forward-looking Iranian art – serving as a mentor to up and coming artists, opening a space in Tehran and participating in major shows around the world. His works are held by museums such as The British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

The sale includes outstanding works by Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, Charles Hossein Zenderoudi, Hervé Van Der Straeten and Farhad Moshiri.

Farhad Moshiri, Untitled (From the Jar Series), 2001 (est. £100,000-150,000)

Reinterpreting the traditional Persian calligraphic practice sheets widely mastered during the Safavid dynasty, this work marks the beginning of the artist’s exploration of the writing system’s physical and symbolic significance. Moshiri draws on Eastern and Islamic aesthetics to celebrate the visceral beauty of form, whilst hinting at the exciting possibilities of hidden meanings. Part of his first exhibition in 2001, in Tehran, this painting was acquired directly from the artist in 2002.

Monir Farmanfarmaian, Untitled (Faravahar Wings, Zarathustra), 2008 (est. £80,000- 100,000)

This timeless yet contemporary work brings together the decorative elements of Iranian traditional craft with Western abstraction – in playful yet poignant homage to Islamic geometry and the ancient roots of Iranian culture. In this piece she presents the Farvahar, a winged disc with a man's upper body that is one of the best-known symbols of Zoroastrianism and more generally of the Iranian nation. The wings are spread apart signifying the ascent of the soul or upward progress of human, with good thoughts, words and deeds.

It was Farmanfarmaian’s 1966 visit to the Shah Cheragh Shrine in Iran that truly redefined her artistic trajectory. Adorned with mirror mosaics, the architecture, the light and the people were said to have felt like a mystical performance to the artist. She was also immersed in New York’s avant-garde scene, mixing with the likes of Frank Stella, Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol.

Her works have long been met with international acclaim, from being awarded the Gold medal at the Venice Biennale in 1958 to her installations for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and most recently her recent retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, New York in 2015.

20th CENTURY ART/ MIDDLE EAST, 20 AprilThe 20th Century Art / Middle East sale marks the relaunch of Sotheby’s vibrant and exciting international platform for modern and contemporary arts from North Africa, Turkey, the Middle East and Iran in London.

Mahmoud Mokhtar, On the Banks of the Nile, 1921 (est. £120,000-180,000)

Mahmoud Mokhtar depictions of the struggle for political independence and the emancipation of women in Egypt in the first decades of the 20th-century are unparalleled. This work, characterised by the elegance and determined posture of the present water carrier echoing the aesthetic of the great sculptures of Ancient Egypt and the fashionable Parisian Art Deco, is typical of his oeuvre.

Au Bord du Nil represents the peasant woman who was adopted as the emblem of Egypt’s revolutionary movement. She stands tall, poised to adjust her veil, revealing her feminine beauty whilst carrying out the menial but essential task of sourcing water from the river. Her frontal pose and the stylised visage and folds of the drapery are reminiscent of statues of Egyptian queens. As such the figure at once symbolises ancient and modern Egypt and the reinstatement of the woman at the centre.

Mokhtar moved to Cairo from the countryside in 1902 and was amongst the first to enroll in the city’s new School of Fine Arts six years later. He famously said, ‘When I was a child, there had been no sculpture and no sculptor in my country for more than seventeen hundred years’, becoming the first Egyptian sculptor to follow the pharaonic tradition of sculpting. His sculptures now form part of Cairo’s architecture, a life-size marble version of this work stands at the entrance of the Mokhtar Museum and an example was initially showcased at Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1930.

The present work is the largest of its kind to appear at auction, an iconic testament to the father of modern Egyptian sculpture.

Paul Guiragossian, Karantina Camp (Bourj Hammoud), circa 1964 (est. £30,000- 40,000)

One of the most versatile and avant-garde Lebanese painters of his generation, Guiragossian was born to Armenian parents, survivors of the Armenian Genocide and experienced the consequences of exile from a very tender age. Karantina Camp is an emotive landscape scene of a migrant camp on the outskirts of Beirut, where Armenians in exile were originally placed and began to rebuild a new home – a rare work with a deeply personal resonance to the artist but universal motifs.

As part of a series done in response to the plight of Armenian migrants in the 1960s, the work expresses the heaviness of exile, yet coloured with hope. The painting is a beautifully poignant record of old Beirut and the subsequent birth of a constructed hometown – and one which has special meaning after the Karantina Camp massacre of 1976.

Adel Abidin, I’m Sorry, 2008 (est. £20,000-30,000) “This work sums up my first visit to the USA. During that visit I met many people from different social backgrounds and their reaction, once they knew where I was from, was always the same: “I’m Sorry.” The words... surrounded with light bulbs in the colours of the American flag, which flicker and glimmer, representing the various backgrounds of all those I spoke to who shared the same sentiment.”

This poignant neon lightbox comes from a private collection in Dubai, and has previously been exhibited at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and as part of the Iran Pavillion at the Venice Biennale last year.

THE ORIENTALIST SALE, 19 AprilThe Orientalist Sale showcases important Orientalist paintings of Turkey, North Africa, the Levant, and the Middle East. Travelling from America and Europe to the lands known collectively in the 18th and 19th centuries as the Orient, artists aimed to capture sites, cultures and the bright desert light that few had experienced before. These paintings are coveted as fascinating glimpses into the history of these countries from a time before the widespread use of photography and figurative art was little practised by local artists.

Ludwig Deutsch, Morning Prayers, 1902 (est. £500,000-800,000)

Ludwig Deutsch, an Austrian artist working in Paris who first travelled to Cairo in the early 1880s, is revered for his breathtakingly observed scenes notable for their meticulous details. A luminous masterpiece, this work demonstrates the artist’s respect for Muslim worship. A powerful and noble evocation of the rites and religion of the Muslim world, Morning Prayers depicts two men absorbed in prayerful contemplation, facing towards the mosque’s mihrab indicating the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. The lack of architectural detail and the simplicity of the backdrop serve to focus attention on the prayer sequence which so captivated Deutsch and other Orientalist painters used to Christian worship. The minute detail and photographic realism of the painting, from the mother-of-pearl inlaid kursi cabinets and Syrian pendant lamp to the Persian Sauj Bulagh rug betrays Deutsch’s rigorous academic training in Paris.

John Frederick Lewis, Outdoor Gossip, 1873 (est. £300,000-500,000)Among the other key offerings in the sale are a group of works by British artist traveller John Frederick Lewis, who spent ten years living in Cairo, dressing as an Egyptian and assimilating into Egyptian society.

Outdoor Gossip, a jewel-like oil of two gentlemen of Cairo exchanging news was exhibited with its companion painting Indoor Gossip at the Royal Academy in 1874 - the first time Lewis shows male and female gendered spaces as a deliberately contrasted pair. While his women are pampered, sequestered, enclosed, his men are relaxed, unrestricted and involved in debate, reflecting the perceived conventions of Eastern society. Four exquisitely fresh drawings by the aritst will also be presented, three figural, one of a mosque interior, which have descended in his family.

THE LIBRARY OF MOHAMED AND MARGARET MAKIYA, 19 AprilThe single-owner sale of the library of distinguished Iraqi architect Mohamed Saleh Makiya, who died last year aged 101, and his wife Margaret reveals a collection of rare books and works on paper that embraces the culture of the Middle East and the wider Islamic world, and its connections with Europe. The library is rich in books on art and design, archaeology, travel, history, literature, and architecture – representing Margaret’s particular interest in accounts of female European travellers and Dr Makiya’s in Islamic art and architecture.

Born in Baghdad, Makiya came to Britain in 1935 to study architecture and civil design, where he met Margaret Crawford, a student of History. By 1946 Makiya had been awarded a Ph.D from King’s College Cambridge, and had returned to his native Iraq where he established Makiya Associates. One of Dr Makiya’s most important commissions was the extension to the Khulafa Mosque in Baghdad, undertaken in 1960 - a highly successful synthesis of past and present traditions of Islamic architecture. In 1953, he founded the Department of Architecture at Baghdad University where he remained as head until 1968. In the late 1980s the Makiyas’ founded the Kufa Gallery in London, a non-profit charity devoted to the promotion of the art and architecture of the Middle East, which has since played an important role in promoting Iraqi and Arab culture in London.

Omar Khayyam, A collection of over 300 editions, translations and works relating to the Rubaiyat, many from the library of the Rubaiyat bibliographer and collector Ambrose G. Potter (est. £10,000-15,000)

A Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) is an important selection of almost 1,000 poems and philosophical musings. This lot brings together an impressive collection containing rare limited or illustrated editions, and translations (including French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Welsh, Icelandic, Japanese, Greek, Tamil, Irish, and Hindi), some including notes or letters by Ambrose G. Potter, and/or his bookplate. Many of these copies were gifts from H.M. Schroeter of Los Angeles who in 1908 announced his desire to publish a bibliography of the Rubaiyat, and which led Potter and Schroeter to an exchange that continued till 1914, when H.M. Schroeter abandoned his intention to publish, and generously presented him with the manuscript material. 

Pascal Xavier Coste, Forty-two sheets of architectural and topographical drawings of Cairo for 'architecture arabe ou monuments du kaire', circa 1818-25 (est. £20,000-30,000)

Pascal Coste (1787-1879) was an architect from Marseilles, who travelled to Egypt from 1817 to 1827, having been employed to undertake various engineering projects by Mehmet ‘Ali – pasha and viceroy of Egypt, who encouraged the emergence of the modern Egyptian state. Coste was then granted permission to measure and take drawings of buildings in Cairo which had never been recorded.

These are original drawings for Pascal Coste's landmark work on the architecture of Cairo, Architecture Arabe ou monuments du Kaire, which was published in 1837 – including a number that are unpublished and previously unseen. The drawings include views, measured plans, elevations, sections, and details of ornament of mosques and other buildings.