Dubai – Christie’s is pleased to announce two key appointments to its senior management team in the Middle East:  Dr. Ridha Moumni has been promoted to the role of Deputy Chairman, Christie’s Middle East & North Africa, effective immediately, and Meagan Kelly Horsman has been named Managing Director, Christie’s Middle East, joining the company on 23 May 2022. 

Anthea Peers, Christie’s new President for Europe, Middle East and Africa, has identified the Middle East market as a strategic priority for the company, and these two important executive announcements underscore Christie’s commitment to deepening its investment in this area.

In his new role as Deputy Chairman, Middle East & North Africa, Ridha Moumni will assume responsibility for business strategy across the region, with a strong focus on the Gulf and North Africa amongst other areas. He will work to expand and enhance Christie’s profile and portfolio of offerings while also promoting the company’s diversified businesses. Ridha was previously Christie’s Senior Client Advisor for the Middle East, joining the company from Harvard University’s Department of Art History, where he was an Aga Khan Fellow.

Meagan Kelly Horsman brings to Christie’s her extensive experience in Collection Management and Development for some of the most important collections in the UAE. Based in the region since 2010, Ms. Kelly Horsman worked previously in the primary art market, starting her career in the art world at Bonham’s. Meagan has also curated numerous exhibitions, delivered short courses relating to the art sector, and created a curated print fair at Al Serkal Avenue.

Anthea Peers, President Christie’s EMEA commented: “Joining Christie’s London 16 years ago, I vividly remember the excitement felt ahead of the first auction we held in Dubai, back in May 2006. This expansion and further successes in the region, as we forged relationships throughout the area, remains pivotal for the business, and the Middle East has always been at the forefront of my mind.  It’s therefore an even greater pleasure to announce these new management appointments so early in my new role as President, Christie’s EMEA. There will be further news to come in the weeks and months ahead, underlining the strong investment Christie’s will continue to make in the region going forward.”

Christie’s Dubai office hosts two dedicated specialist departments for watches and Middle Eastern art, as well as a special events team, led by the newly appointed General Manager Itziar Salgado. In addition to its core team of colleagues based in Dubai,  Christie’s engages and directs a strong network of consultants throughout the region and receives integral support from senior colleagues across the business, including Dr. Bertold Müller, Managing Director Christie’s EMEA; and a highly skilled team of managers, client advisors, and specialists in Islamic Art, 20th/21st Century Art, Old Masters, and Collections.

Christie’s presence in the region

Convening and serving clients throughout the Middle East at its galleries in the Dubai International Financial Centre, Christie’s Dubai serves as the hub for exceptional timepieces and Middle Eastern 20th and 21st Century Art.

Each year Christie’s biannual Dubai Watches auctions consistently achieve exceptional results, including the world record in 2021 for the most expensive watch ever sold at auction in the Middle East:  a rare Patek Philippe Ref. 5002P-001 Sky Moon Tourbillon that made history when it sold for US $1.6 million.

In response to the growing international appetite for Middle Eastern 20th and 21st Century Art, Christie’s continues to engage and connect with global audiences in London, hosting an annual auction during Frieze Week every October, where distinguished private collections are offered alongside extraordinary works by modern and contemporary masters. In addition to hosting a regular program of Middle Eastern auctions, Christie’s often presents educational and academic initiatives, including exhibitions and seminars throughout the region. To date Christie’s also has helped to raise more than US$30 million for charities in the Middle East.

In 2021, Christie’s participated in the Riyadh International Book Fair (November) and hosted a selling exhibition of work by African artists from Gallery 1957 at Christie’s Dubai (December). In March of 2022, Christie’s presented two exhibitions at its DIFC galleries during Art Dubai, including Block Party, a non-selling NFT exhibition and Rock Party, a private selling exhibition. In April, Christie’s Dubai unveiled and announced to the world The Rock-- the largest white diamond ever to come to auction.

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Biography of Dr. Ridha Moumni

Dr. Ridha Moumni is an Art and Archaeology historian with an academic and professional specialisation in Antiquity and the early and modern art. He earned his Ph.D. in North African Roman Architecture at La Sorbonne University before joining the Villa Medici as a fellow of the French Academy. He returned to Tunis in 2014, where he worked as an independent research-based curator and organised exhibitions of photography and early modern art, among them L’Eveil d’une Nation in 2016 (The Awakening of a Nation: Art at the Dawn of Modern Tunisia), where he displayed the first Abolition of Slavery and the first Constitution of the Arab World. Prior to joining Christie’s, Ridha was an Aga Khan Fellow at the Department of Art History of Harvard University.  Ridha recently co-authored Artistes de Tunisie (Cérès Editions, 2019) with Elsa Despiney, a book on Tunisian visual artists from the 19th century to the Revolution, and is currently working on a book project exploring the collections of Bardo National Museum.

Biography of Meagan Kelly Horsman

Meagan Kelly Horsman moved in 2010 to Dubai, quickly establishing a strong network with private and public institutions, art collectors, artists and gallerists in the region. Throughout her career, Meagan was responsible for placing key artworks from the region into important private and public collections, including the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; The British Museum, London; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in the USA as well as the Guggenheim Museum, Abu Dhabi. Furthermore, she was responsible for coordinating loans to key international and regional institutions, collection management, including acquisition, identifying restauration needs, implementing new Collection Management Solutions and providing art market analysis. Meagan studied History of Art at the University of Glasgow and has particular expertise in art from the Middle East, North Africa and Iran.

PRESS CONTACT:
Alexandra Kindermann
akindermann@christies.com

About Christie’s

Founded in 1766, Christie’s is a world-leading art and luxury business. Renowned and trusted for its expert live and online auctions, as well as its bespoke private sales, Christie’s offers a full portfolio of global services to its clients, including art appraisal, art financing, international real estate and education.  Christie’s has a physical presence in 46 countries, throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, with flagship international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris and Geneva. It also is the only international auction house authorized to hold sales in mainland China (Shanghai).

Christie’s auctions span more than 80 art and luxury categories, at price points ranging from £200 to over £100 million. In recent years, Christie’s has achieved the world record price for an artwork at auction (Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvador Mundi, 2017), for a single collection sale (the Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, 2018), and for a work by a living artist (Jeff Koons’ Rabbit, 2019).

Christie’s Private Sales offers a seamless service for buying and selling art, jewellery and watches outside of the auction calendar, working exclusively with Christie’s specialists at a client’s individual pace.

Recent innovations at Christie’s include the groundbreaking sale of the first NFT for a digital work of art ever offered at a major auction house (Beeple’s Everydays, March 2021), with the unprecedented acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of payment. As an industry leader in digital innovation, Christie’s also continues to pioneer new technologies that are redefining the business of art, including the creation of viewing and bidding experiences that integrate augmented reality, global livestreaming, buy-now channels, and hybrid sales formats. 

Christie’s is dedicated to advancing responsible culture throughout its business and communities worldwide, including achieving sustainability through net zero carbon emissions by 2030, and actively using its platform in the art world to amplify under-represented voices and support positive change.

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*Please note when quoting estimates above that other fees will apply in addition to the hammer price - see Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of the sale catalogue.

*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium. Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and are reported net of applicable fees.