BySiddhi Jain

September 17, 2019 (IANSlife) Christie’s 2019 Asian Art Week sales have touched a staggering USD 41 million (nearly Rs 300 crore ), and Indian art seems to have played it big within the exceptional pieces of art the global auction house fielded.

The South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art sale, led by Indian modernist Sayed Haider Raza’s monumental 'La Terre' realised $3,015,000 or about Rs 21 crore. An important work from Raza’s oeuvre, 'La Terre' was painted in 1977 when he started integrating vital elements of his Indian childhood and cultural heritage into his paintings.

Raza, a contemporary of M.F. Husain, also vividly painted villages in the French countryside, where he relocated to for many years. But a rare untitled cityscape painted in 1956 fetched a stunning Rs 4 crore at the auction.

This composition is one of the few that records Raza’s impressions of the vibrant and teeming metropolis of Paris and it surpassed its estimated price in the Asian Art Week sales.

Husain's own works saw exceptional results at the auction, which also set nine new records for artists Shakir Ali, Jyoti Bhatt, Bipin Goswami, Sarnath Banerjee, Naeem Mohaiemen, Mahbubur Rahman, RAQS MediaCollection, Shumon Ahmed and Mrinalini Mukherjee.

'The Visitors', a work by Bikash Bhattacharjee was sold for roughly Rs 64 lakh. Following from a series of surrealist mixed media collages and animalistic portraits that the artist executed in the late 1960s, this painting from 1970, represents one of Bhattacharjee’s greatest accomplishments in oil painting, perfectly straddling the realms of reality and fantasy.

Apart from Indian art, a rare and important large parcel-gilt silver bowl from Tang dynasty went for $3,495,000 and set the world auction record for a Chinese silver work of art.

Other notable results included a very rare gold ‘dragon’-handled cup that sold for $2,535,000 and set the auction record for a gold work of art from the Yuan dynasty. An important massive sancai-glazed pottery figure of a Fereghan horse from the Tang dynasty fetched $675,000;  while a very rare and finely enameled famille rose mille fleurslantern vase, Jiaqing iron-red six-character seal and mark of the period sold for $879,000.

"The sale performed with strong results demonstrating the growing international interest for the field. Our commitment to the category has been rewarded with the prices achieved, such as Sayed Haider Raza’s ‘La Terre,’ which realised over $3 million, new artist records, and an expanded global network of buyers," said Deepanjana Klein, International Head of Classical and Contemporary Indian and South Asian Art.

Online sales of Asian Art Week continue through September 25.

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Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in

Editing by Ritu Pandey and N. Lothungbeni Humtsoe