When a Cambridge art dealer stumbled across a dusty painting during a routine house clearance in 2023, little did he know he was holding a lost treasure by one of the 20th century’s most celebrated artists. That painting, a mixed-media piece by Salvador Dalí titled Vecchio Sultano (also known as Old Sultan), has now made headlines after selling for a stunning £45,700 at Cheffins’ Art & Design Sale on October 24, 2025—far surpassing its estimated value and sparking renewed interest in a forgotten chapter of Dalí’s storied career, according to BBC and Artribune.
The story behind this remarkable rediscovery begins with a bit of luck and a keen eye. The seller, an experienced antiquarian and art dealer who has chosen to remain anonymous, purchased the painting for just £150 during a clearance of a Cambridge home. Unaware at first of its true provenance, he soon realized he might have something special on his hands. With the help of Cheffins auction house, the painting underwent a thorough authentication process, culminating in the confirmation by renowned Dalí expert Nicolas Descharnes that the work was indeed an original by the Spanish surrealist master.
"I am over the moon with this result and grateful for the work done by Cheffins," the seller said after the auction, as reported by Artribune. "It was exciting to see the painting go up for auction and receive the recognition it deserves. The final price is in line with expectations and rewards the effort and research we put into this piece." The painting ultimately fetched £45,700 (about €52,000), including commission and VAT, after a spirited bidding war that saw collectors from across the globe vying for a piece of art history.
The artwork itself is a striking mixed-media composition, crafted with watercolour and marker, measuring 38cm by 29cm (15in by 11in). It depicts a scene from the Arabian Nights, also known as the Thousand and One Nights, and is part of an ambitious but incomplete project that Dalí undertook in the 1950s. The project, commissioned by the wealthy Italian collectors Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto—close friends and patrons of Dalí—was intended to encompass 500 illustrations inspired by the legendary Middle Eastern folktales. According to Cheffins and Artribune, Dalí ultimately abandoned the project after producing around 100 works.
What happened to those 100 pieces is a tale in itself. Half of the illustrations remained with the publishing house Rizzoli, while the other half stayed with the Albaretto family, eventually passing to their daughter Christina, who was also Dalí’s goddaughter. Many of the Rizzoli-held works were lost or damaged over the years, while those with the Albaretto family resurfaced in 2014 when the Folio Society published fifty of the illustrations, reigniting curiosity about the fate of the lost and unpublished works.
Gabrielle Downie from Cheffins described the rediscovery as a "significant rediscovery for Dali scholars," noting that the loss of an attribution is quite rare in the modern art world. "To handle a genuine rediscovery of a work by someone who is easily one of the most famous artists in the world and the godfather of Surrealism is a real honour," she told BBC. Downie added that Vecchio Sultano was unusual in its execution, revealing a different side to Dalí’s artistic practice when working in watercolour.
The painting’s journey to auction was anything but straightforward. According to Cheffins director Brett Tryner, the work had previously appeared on the market in the 1990s, when it was offered at Sotheby’s as an attributed Dalí piece, only to disappear from public view for decades. "It is unusual today for a work attributed to a world-renowned artist to disappear for so long," Tryner commented in Artribune. "Researching and cataloging this piece has been a fascinating journey, and we are thrilled that the result has exceeded estimates." The seller’s own research revealed that the painting had languished in a London garage for years before resurfacing during the Cambridge house clearance.
Authentication was a meticulous process. After the initial research and discovery that the painting had once been offered at Sotheby’s with full attribution to Dalí, Cheffins and the seller enlisted the expertise of Nicolas Descharnes, a leading authority on Dalí. Descharnes confirmed the painting’s authenticity and its stylistic consistency with other known works from the Arabian Nights project, both in terms of technique and paper quality. This expert validation was crucial in paving the way for the work’s reintroduction to the international art market.
The sale of Vecchio Sultano not only exceeded financial expectations—the piece had been estimated to fetch between £20,000 and £30,000—but also highlighted the enduring fascination with Dalí’s art, particularly his lesser-known graphic and illustrative works. As Cheffins’ Brett Tryner put it, "The seller was told that the painting had been stored in a garage in London before being unveiled during the clearing of a house in downtown Cambridge. Thanks to his extensive knowledge and concern for authenticity, this important piece was reintroduced to the art market."
The rediscovery has also shone a spotlight on Dalí’s unfinished Arabian Nights project, one of the more curious and overlooked aspects of his career. Commissioned during a period when Dalí was exploring new themes and techniques, the project was intended as a lavishly illustrated corpus for publication by Rizzoli. However, with only about 100 works completed and many subsequently lost, each rediscovered piece adds to the rich tapestry of Dalí’s artistic legacy and offers scholars and collectors alike a glimpse into what might have been.
The fact that such a significant work could go unnoticed for decades—first in a garage, then in a Cambridge house—raises intriguing questions about what other treasures might still be hidden in attics, basements, or storage lockers across the world. It’s a reminder that the art world, for all its expertise and scholarship, can still be surprised by the unexpected appearance of a lost masterpiece.
For now, Vecchio Sultano has found a new home, and its journey from obscurity to auction block stands as a testament to the enduring allure of Salvador Dalí. With the help of dedicated experts and a bit of serendipity, one of the godfather of Surrealism’s forgotten works has been brought back into the light, captivating a new generation of admirers and scholars alike.
