Business as usual in London

There is a certain irony in the fact that the art market least affected by the fallout of 11 September was probably Islamic art. After all, the big players in this small, specialist field are unlikely to have incomes dependent on the Western stockmarket – and they are as rich as Croesus anyway. Biggest of all is Sheikh Saud bin Mohamed al-Thani, cousin of the Emir of Qatar, who has spent hundreds of millions in just five years – hoovering up everything from Islamic metalwork to Mamluk glass, manuscripts, Isnik pottery, and Indian and Arab jewellery, much but not all destined for a projected national museum and library. He is reputed to have paid a nine-figure sum for the collection of metalwork belonging to Jusim Homaizi, a great deal of which the latter lost during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

As for the current Iraqi conflict, Qatar has displayed a certain skill in riding two horses, as host to both the coalition headquarters and Al-Jazeera. Perhaps the principal major buyer who might be otherwise preoccupied is Sheikh Nasser al-Saba, an avid collector of early Islamic and Indian jewellery and jewelled objects, plus glass, pottery and metalwork. His day job is in the Kuwaiti government. But, so far at least, it seems that it is business as usual as London builds up to its Islamic sales. All the usual suspects are already circling their prey.

And what intriguing prey it is. Once again, Christie’s has pulled out of the hat another spectacular early Islamic bronze beast. This time it is gilded, and a bird –probably a cockerel – crafted as a fountainhead and believed to originate from 10th- or 11th-century Spain. This 14- inch-high beady, strutting creature – how fierce he would look with water gushing out of his beak – is part of an extraordinary unknown menagerie which has been disgorging creatures one by one over the last decade.