ArtDayMe – While the Middle East is often described as the cradle of civilizations, ten years ago its public art markets—from galleries and art fairs to regional auctions—were overwhelmingly centered on modern and contemporary art.

In this context, Mahboubeh Kazemi introduced a groundbreaking initiative by founding Baran Auction, the first regional platform devoted entirely to calligraphy and Islamic art.

The event not only marked a turning point for Iranian and Middle Eastern calligraphy, but also redefined the region’s art economy by sending out new signals and interpretations.

Born in 1972 in Tehran, Mahboubeh Kazemi began painting at the age of fifteen at Tehran Art Workshop, one of the city’s leading art education centers. After years of painting, she entered the tourism field in 2004 (1383 SH), focusing on cultural and art tourism. Her path soon led her to gallery management.

In 2009, Mahboubeh launched the Taraneh Baran brand, formally establishing Taraneh Baran Gallery in 2012 . Following several years of research and study, in October 2016 she founded Baran Auction: The Specialized Auction of Calligraphy and Islamic Art in Tehran—opening an entirely new chapter in the Middle Eastern art market.

While renowned auction houses such as Christie’s, Bonhams, and Sotheby’s in London and Paris have held Islamic art auctions for over a century—often generating revenues rivaling or exceeding those of modern and contemporary art—the Middle East, despite being the birthplace of Islamic and civilizational arts, lacked a dedicated market in this field.

That gap has since been filled with the establishment of Baran Auction in 2016, reviving and modernizing the trade of traditional and heritage-based arts in the region.

The First Baran Auction (2016): A New Chapter in Art History

The inaugural Baran Auction presented 69 works, achieving total sales of 2.609 billion tomans (approximately $871,000).

Among them, four works surpassed the 100 million toman mark (around $34,000)—a remarkable result for a newly established market in the regional art scene.

The highest sale was recorded by a piece from Mir Emad al-Hassani, the celebrated Safavid-era calligrapher widely recognized as the master of Nasta‘liq script. His work sold for 600 million tomans (about $200,000).

The importance of Mir Emad in the world of calligraphy is such that, in recent years, thanks to Italian and American art patrons, a fine collection of his works has been published, now accessible to the public through the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Following the first Baran Auction, the art market showed an insatiable appetite for works attributed to Mir Emad.

The second-highest record was achieved by a work of Mirza Mohammad Hossein Shirazi, known as Kateb al-Sultan, which sold for 420 million tomans (around $140,000). Shirazi, one of the finest 19th-century (13th AH century) calligraphers, was among the few masters capable of writing Nasta‘liq in all scales—from jali (large) to khafi and ghobar (minute scripts)—with equal mastery.

Baran Auction: Responding to a Historical Need in the Middle East

From its very first edition, it became clear that Mahboubeh Kazemi, with her perceptive understanding of the Middle East’s innate artistic potential, had addressed a long-standing cultural need.

By creating a specialized market, she took a pioneering step toward structuring the region’s art ecosystem.

The sales records of the first Baran Auction sent strong, positive signals to Middle Eastern art investors, encouraging them to envision a substantial, independent treasury for their ancestral arts.

Now, a decade later, this initiative has evolved into a structured movement that has strengthened Iran’s calligraphy market and revitalized the broader field of traditional and civilizational arts across the region.