Hoare assembled works of art for his regular exhibitions under the banner ‘Every Object Tells a Story’. Now Christie’s will offer 130 lots of works of art from his collection on October 25 in The Oliver Hoare Collection sale. With estimates from £300-£1.5m, the sale includes pieces from all over the globe, ancient and modern that Hoare had collected.
William Robinson, Christie’s International head of group world art, said: “As head of the Islamic department, for many years I enjoyed filling the position which was first created for Oliver. It therefore gives me huge pleasure that Christie’s have been asked to handle the Oliver Hoare sale.”
The top lot is a 15th century Timurid manuscript – known as the Jam-I Jam – by Mawlana Shir Ali, with four illustrations by the rare artist [Kemal al-Din] Bihzad, which was once part of the Mughal Imperial Library.
Christie’s said it is the earliest known work by the artist, produced with the calligrapher with whom he worked again on a manuscript now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It is estimated at £1-1.5m.
Oliver’s children, Tristan, Damian and Olivia said: “Our father’s interest in Islamic art can be traced back to his childhood when he was gifted a large silver coin from Persia.”
