A £150 painting, titled Vecchio Sultano and discovered in a Cambridge-based house clearance clear-out, has sold for £45,700 at Cheffins’ Art & Design Sale.
The work, a mixed media piece in watercolour paint and felt tip depicting a scene from The Arabian Nights, had a pre-sale estimate of £20,000-£30,000.
Cheffins Cambridge HQ. Picture: Keith Heppell
Measuring 38cm x 29cm, Vecchio Sultano – Italian for ‘Old Sultan’ – is one of a series of 500 pieces which Dali intended to create of Middle Eastern folktales. Created in 1966, it was commissioned by wealthy Italian couple, Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto.
Dr and Mrs Albaretto commissioned the Arabian Nights works which they intended to publish through Italian publishing house, Rizzoli. However, Dali was thought to have abandoned the project after completing only 100.
Half of these remained with Rizzoli and were damaged or lost, while the other half stayed with the Albarettos and were inherited by Christina, their daughter, who was also Dali’s goddaughter. The remaining 50 illustrations which were retained by the Albaretto family were published in 2014 by the Folio Society, which sparked new interest in the project and the whereabouts of the unpublished pieces. It is believed that the present work was part of the batch which were retained by Rizzoli.
The piece was acquired at a house clearance sale in Cambridge in 2023 before it was identified and authenticated by Cheffins. The Cambridge-based antiques and art dealer who bought it at auction for £150 wishes to remain anonymous.
Vecchio Sultano by Salvador Dali, 1966
He was told the painting had been stored in a garage in London before appearing at the house clearance in central Cambridge, and said of the auction outcome: “I am over the moon with this result and am appreciative of everything which Cheffins has done in the lead up to the sale. It was genuinely very exciting to see it go under the hammer, and I am glad that it has reached the recognition which it deserves.
“The final price is around what we expected, and I was glad to see it sell after all the hard work and research which went into it.”
Brett Tryner, director at Cheffins, said: “This work was a significant rediscovery for Dali scholars, and the picture saw incredible amounts of interest in the lead up to the auction.
Cheffins’ Cambridge base. Picture: Keith Heppell
“It had previously been offered at Sotheby’s in the 1990s, attributed to Dali, and subsequently disappeared from public record – an unusual occurrence in the modern art world.
“Researching and cataloguing this piece has been an exciting journey, and we’re thrilled that it achieved above its estimate.”
He added: “The work was examined by leading Dali expert Nicolas Descharnes, who confirmed its authenticity and consistency with other known examples in both style and paper quality.”