TEHRAN -- The 4th Tehran Auction smashed last year’s record on Friday evening by grossing 214 billion rials (over $6.4 million).

The auction sold 130 billion rials during its 3rd edition last year.

Like previous edition, a Sohrab Sepehri painting from his Tree Trunk series fetched 28 billion rials (over $845,000), setting a new record for the Iranian art sale.

“We didn’t think that we could organize the second edition of the Tehran Auction and now, I am happy that the fourth edition is being held,” auctioneer Reza Kianian, who is also actor, said before beginning the auction at the Parsian Azadi Hotel.

“We should be grateful to Alireza Sami-Azar [the director of the Tehran Auction] for this,” he added.

The second most expensive work of art sold at the auction was another painting from Sepehri’s Tree Trunk series, which sold for 17 billion rials.

New York-based Iranian expressionist Manuchehr Yektaii’s painting was the third top seller, going for 9.5 billion rials.

Sold for 7.2 billion rials, “Sill Life” by Bahman Moasses was the fourth top seller.

The auction stirred with excitement again as another Sepehri painting from his Tree Trunk series fetched 7 billion rials.

Other highlights of the auction were sculptor Parviz Tanavoli’s “Monument I for Word Heech”, and Aidin Aghdashlu’s diptych painting “Enigma XXV”, both of which sold for 5 billion rials.

The other highlight was illustrator Ali-Akbar Sadeqi’s “Love Garden” that made 4.5 billion rials.

A total of 126 works from artists, including Masud Arabshahi, Mohammad Ehsaii, Jalil Rasuli, Behjat Sadr and Parviz Kalantari, went under the hammer at the sale by auctioneer Kianian, who announced his plan to withdraw from the auction after four years.

This year, a collection of works by classical Iranian artists was sold on the sidelines of the Tehran Auction.

A work by Kamalolmolk, a court painter during the reign of Qajar king Nasser ad-Din Shah, was snapped up for 5 billion rials.

“This section is dedicated to those artists whose works previously sold at international auctions,” the auctioneer of the section, Hossein Pakdel, said during the sale.

The organizers plan to hold the section independently in the future, he added.

The Tehran Auction earned over 2 billion rials during its first and second sales in 2012, 2013.

Photo: Tehran Auction employees hold a painting from Sohrab Sepehri’s Tree Trunk series during the fourth edition of the auction at the Parsian Azadi Hotel on May 29, 2015. The artwork was the first top seller, fetching over $845,000. (ISNA/Hemmat Khahi)

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