Sotheby's London's inaugural Indian and Islamic Week achieves highest total for the season in the category
October 17, 2014: The Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art sale at Sotheby’s London kicked off London’s inaugural Indian and Islamic week and achieved the highest total of the season for any sale in this category. Totalling £4,697,975 (463,889,004 INR), the sale was led by Tyeb Mehta’s stunning, Blue Painting, 1982, bought by an anonymous bidder for £1,118,500 (110,443,298 INR) and nearly doubling its estimate. Akbar Padamsee’s iconic Prophet I, 1952, fetched more than three-times the estimate when it sold for £530,500 (52,382,807 INR).
A new world record was set for any work at auction by the Delhi-based artist Mrinalini Mukherjee. Her large-scale suspended figure made from woven hemp, Sri (Deity), 1982 was bought by an Indian collector for £98,500 (9,726,120 INR).
Yamini Mehta, Senior Director, International Head of Indian and South Asian Art, said, “With a sale totalling over $7.5 million, and the average value of the lots sold at over $100,000, it was a superlative result. The sale demonstrates not only the enduring appeal of works by India’s pioneering Modernists – with such fantastic results for works by Mehta, Padamsee and Raza – but also the enthusiasm amongst collectors for works by artists who are new to the auction scene, with a new world record set for Mrinalini Mukherjee. The fresh to the market works from great private collections such as the Glenbarra Art Museum, the Collection of William and Mildred Archer, as well as numerous private collections from Europe, America and Brazil, really made a huge impact on the success of sale."
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