TheBarakat Gallery is anantiquities dealership with locations in London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Seoul.[1] Barakat is considered to have one of the largest collection ofancient art for sale in the world, and one of the largest collections in private hands, at around 40,000 items with total valuation of over $1.5 billion USD according to several sources.[2][3][4]
The galleries are currently owned byFayez Barakat, a Palestinian-American artist and antiquities dealer. Barakat is the fifth generation of his family to run the business.[5]
The gallery started informally on the Barakat family's farm land inHebron, Palestine where the family collected antiquities from local farmers that had unearthed them in the course of their labor. The family then sold the antiquities alongside their own produce in the local market.[6]
The modern company was founded with the opening of its first major gallery inJerusalem in the 1950s and has since expanded to Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, and Seoul.[7] In 2003, theRodeo Drive LA gallery was honored by the City of Beverly Hills for its contribution to the arts in Los Angeles.[8][9]
In 2019, theGetty Museum acquired a sixteenth-century ArmenianGospel Book from the Barakat Gallery.[10]
In September 2023 a $1.5M Buddha was stolen from the Barakat Gallery in Los Angeles.[16] A single thief allegedly maneuvered the 250-pound sculpture, dating from Japan'sEdo Period, out of the Barakat Gallery's backyard and into a rental truck.[17] The ancient buddha was recovered within a week.[18]