Sotheby's Howard Hodgkin auction exceeds expectations

Bidders responded with enthusiasm with 75 per cent of the lots selling for prices above estimate

Sweet Bowl by Patrick Caulfield sold for £524,750. Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images for Sotheby's

On Tuesday the collection of items British painter Howard Hodgkin carefully curated in his home exceeded their pre-sale expectations.

Howard Hodgkin: Portrait of the Artist, which was made up of a "kaleidoscope of exquisite objects", sold for a combined total of £5,184,887 (Dh25.1m) much to the delight of the late artist's partner, Antony Peattie.

Howard Hodgkin's personal collection exceeded pre-sale expectations. Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images for Sotheby's

“The response to the sale has been quite remarkable, and I think Howard would have been taken aback by it: he longed to move people with his work and the sale’s success suggests that there is a strong emotional link between him and the public," Peattie said.

Bhupen Khakhar, De-Luxe Tailors (1972) soared well above the estimate, fetching £1,112,750. Sotheby's

"Sotheby's called it 'Portrait of the Artist' and it has given people an insight into Howard’s personal world, through his passion for objects. The sale has perhaps also opened up the magic world of Indian and Islamic art: as beautiful as it is accessible. He would have liked that."

Following international exhibitions of sale highlights in Dubai, Mumbai and a full exhibition in Sotheby's London galleries, bidders responded with enthusiasm with 75 per cent of the lots selling for prices above the estimates.

Top lot of the sale was one of the greatest works by Bhupen Khakhar, De-Luxe Tailors, which is the last of the seminal Tradesman series in private hands. It went for £1,112,750 (Dh5.4m) - a record price for the artist.

Patrick Caulfield's Sweet Bowl of 1966 fetched £524,750, the second highest price for a work at auction, while two of his own works were hotly sought after - Bedroom (£248,750), which featured in his debut show in 1962, and iconic work Mural Design for British Council Building, New Delhi (£81,250).

The Islamic art pieces included tiles Hodgkin collected from different periods and countries, spanning Kashan, Iznik and Mughal attracted strong interest.

The 17th Century Mughal Pottery Tile from North India was highly-contested, eventually selling for £60,000.

Howard Hodgkin poses next to a detail of his painting 'Where The Deer And The Antelope Play 2001-2007' at Modern Art Oxford which staged his major exhibition on June 17, 2010 in Oxford, England. Christopher Furlong / Getty Images

It was a fitting way to remember a man who was a contemporary of the likes of David Hockney, Allen Jones, Peter Blake and John Hoyland to be remembered, just seven months following his death at the age of 84.

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