India and Himalaya
not including Golconda diamonds
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Tibet and Nepal Buddhism Modern India Ancient sculpture Early Buddhist sculpture Islam Historical arms Blade and armour Jewels II Cartier
Chronology : 1620-1629 1650-1659 1790-1799
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Tibet and Nepal Buddhism Modern India Ancient sculpture Early Buddhist sculpture Islam Historical arms Blade and armour Jewels II Cartier
Chronology : 1620-1629 1650-1659 1790-1799
Schist Group from Gandhara
2020 SOLD for $ 6.6M by Christie's
In the 2nd century BCE Gandhara, whose capital was Peshawar, had been the eastern end of the Hellenistic world. In this region, Greek and Buddhist cultures have mingled.
Around the 1st century CE, Buddhism defined the 32 characteristics of the figurative representation of Buddha to provide the faithful with visual elements to facilitate interpretation. The Gandhara sculptors gradually abandoned Greek figures to illustrate in schist the scenes from the life of Buddha. An ascetic Buddha from the fasting episode was sold for $ 4.45M by Christie's on March 22, 2011.
A 62 x 59 cm gray schist stele surfaced in 1973. Under a lush Buddha tree, five deities are housed with scales varying according to their position in the Buddhist canon. The central figure is the Shakyamuni Buddha in the preaching period, seated on lotus petals. He is flanked by the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya. Avalokiteshvara is recognizable by the tiny figure of Buddha coiled in his crown. Behind them, the two smaller worshipers are Brahma and Indra.
All these figures have been carved in deep relief in the stele. The very skilful composition provides the perfect illusion of a sculpture in the round. In the Greek style, the faces are realistic and the attitudes are flexible.
This stele bears an inscription. It is dated to the 5th day of the month of Phalguna in the year 5 from a period that has not been identified, between the end of the 1st century and the 5th century CE. The donor, named Buddhananda, is learned in the three baskets (pitakas), covering all the sacred texts at that time, and he dedicates the work to his parents.
The sculpture is in excellent condition, apart from the fact that three of the bodhisattvas' four forearms carrying offerings are missing. It was sold for $ 6.6M by Christie's on September 23, 2020, lot 609.
Around the 1st century CE, Buddhism defined the 32 characteristics of the figurative representation of Buddha to provide the faithful with visual elements to facilitate interpretation. The Gandhara sculptors gradually abandoned Greek figures to illustrate in schist the scenes from the life of Buddha. An ascetic Buddha from the fasting episode was sold for $ 4.45M by Christie's on March 22, 2011.
A 62 x 59 cm gray schist stele surfaced in 1973. Under a lush Buddha tree, five deities are housed with scales varying according to their position in the Buddhist canon. The central figure is the Shakyamuni Buddha in the preaching period, seated on lotus petals. He is flanked by the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya. Avalokiteshvara is recognizable by the tiny figure of Buddha coiled in his crown. Behind them, the two smaller worshipers are Brahma and Indra.
All these figures have been carved in deep relief in the stele. The very skilful composition provides the perfect illusion of a sculpture in the round. In the Greek style, the faces are realistic and the attitudes are flexible.
This stele bears an inscription. It is dated to the 5th day of the month of Phalguna in the year 5 from a period that has not been identified, between the end of the 1st century and the 5th century CE. The donor, named Buddhananda, is learned in the three baskets (pitakas), covering all the sacred texts at that time, and he dedicates the work to his parents.
The sculpture is in excellent condition, apart from the fact that three of the bodhisattvas' four forearms carrying offerings are missing. It was sold for $ 6.6M by Christie's on September 23, 2020, lot 609.
#AuctionUpdate Sold to applause after competitive bidding, a rare and magnificent gray Schist Relief Triad of Buddha Shakyamuni with Bodhisattvas realized $6,630,000 -- more than 8x over its high estimate. https://t.co/ui1Ion9dcd pic.twitter.com/nxEKQeqVPI
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) September 23, 2020
Pala Figure
2017 SOLD for $ 24.7M by Christie's
The dynasty which reigned through four centuries over Bengal and Bihar is identified as Pala, a suffix meaning "protector" that was added to the personal name of each monarch.
Three religions cohabitated : Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. They shared a same preoccupation of regulating the communication between the divine and the mortal. In Buddhism this function is assured by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
On March 14, 2017, Christie's sold as lot 233 for $ 24.7M a statue realized in the later phase of the Pala period around 900 years ago.
The young man sits on a thick lotus, one leg bent and the other hanging. This figure is carved in a black stone similar to a schist which was widely used in the Pala steles and whose hardness enables a great sharpness of sculpture.
He necessarily has all the qualities. The spectacular dynamism of the attitude appeals to dialogue with the faithful. He is a prince elegantly dressed with a profusion of pectoral jewels chiseled in the stone but he also is an ascetic recognizable by his braided hair. His belonging to Buddhism is identified by Amitabha hidden in a fold of the tiara : he is altogether Avalokiteshvara, the all-seeing lord, and Lokanatha, the savior of the world.
The character is life-size in this 148 cm high statue. Such characteristics unusual in Buddhist art suggests that it was the main devotional figure in a temple specially dedicated to Avalokiteshvara.
It was from 1922 an important piece in the collection of Indian art of the Boston Museum before being de-accessionned in 1935 for a trade with another statue of the same culture. The arms and nose were missing. The nose was later rebuilt.
Three religions cohabitated : Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. They shared a same preoccupation of regulating the communication between the divine and the mortal. In Buddhism this function is assured by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
On March 14, 2017, Christie's sold as lot 233 for $ 24.7M a statue realized in the later phase of the Pala period around 900 years ago.
The young man sits on a thick lotus, one leg bent and the other hanging. This figure is carved in a black stone similar to a schist which was widely used in the Pala steles and whose hardness enables a great sharpness of sculpture.
He necessarily has all the qualities. The spectacular dynamism of the attitude appeals to dialogue with the faithful. He is a prince elegantly dressed with a profusion of pectoral jewels chiseled in the stone but he also is an ascetic recognizable by his braided hair. His belonging to Buddhism is identified by Amitabha hidden in a fold of the tiara : he is altogether Avalokiteshvara, the all-seeing lord, and Lokanatha, the savior of the world.
The character is life-size in this 148 cm high statue. Such characteristics unusual in Buddhist art suggests that it was the main devotional figure in a temple specially dedicated to Avalokiteshvara.
It was from 1922 an important piece in the collection of Indian art of the Boston Museum before being de-accessionned in 1935 for a trade with another statue of the same culture. The arms and nose were missing. The nose was later rebuilt.
#AsianArtWeek : du 14 au 17 mars @ChristiesInc organise une série de ventes consacrées à l’art d’Asie https://t.co/RTGNrQolil pic.twitter.com/ampK2u6qRS
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) March 13, 2017
13th/14th century Nepalese Padmapani
2015 SOLD for $ 8.2M by Christie's
In all religions, gods must be worshiped but are intimidating. In Buddhism, the bodhisattva solves this paradox. He is conceived as a faithful following the right path, on several levels of which the most developed reaches the perfection of a deity.
The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was popular under various names throughout the Buddhist world. Nepalese enthusiastically welcomed this charming young man entrusted for teaching purity to them. Nepalese bronzes show him in a standing position with a big lotus on its rod floating behind the left arm.
With his hand wide open as a sign of benevolence, his bare chest and his face focused on meditation, Avalokiteshvara is somehow the Apollo of Buddhism.
A gilt bronze 45 cm high made in Nepal 800 to 700 years ago was sold for $ 2.5M by Christie's on March 20, 2012 over a lower estimate of $ 250K.
A gilt bronze 64 cm high made in Nepal in the 13th century CE was sold for $ 8.2M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Christie's on March 17, 2015, lot 25. The standing bodhisattva is in the attitude of Padmapani holding a blossoming lotus at his left shoulder. Its execution is extremely fine.
This gilt bronze includes a further refinement of high importance. The crown is centered with a fine seated figure of Amitabha, the Buddha of Nirvana, leaving no doubt about the role played by Avalokiteshvara to guide humans to the gods.
The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was popular under various names throughout the Buddhist world. Nepalese enthusiastically welcomed this charming young man entrusted for teaching purity to them. Nepalese bronzes show him in a standing position with a big lotus on its rod floating behind the left arm.
With his hand wide open as a sign of benevolence, his bare chest and his face focused on meditation, Avalokiteshvara is somehow the Apollo of Buddhism.
A gilt bronze 45 cm high made in Nepal 800 to 700 years ago was sold for $ 2.5M by Christie's on March 20, 2012 over a lower estimate of $ 250K.
A gilt bronze 64 cm high made in Nepal in the 13th century CE was sold for $ 8.2M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Christie's on March 17, 2015, lot 25. The standing bodhisattva is in the attitude of Padmapani holding a blossoming lotus at his left shoulder. Its execution is extremely fine.
This gilt bronze includes a further refinement of high importance. The crown is centered with a fine seated figure of Amitabha, the Buddha of Nirvana, leaving no doubt about the role played by Avalokiteshvara to guide humans to the gods.
Mr Ellsworth's Gilt Bronze Figure of Avalokiteshvara
(Nepal, 13th Century) realized $8,229,000 against $3m estimate pic.twitter.com/4D4ot0J7k0
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) March 17, 20151627-1972 The Taj Mahal of Elizabeth Taylor
2011 SOLD for $ 8.8M by Christie's
The ideal art, which makes the whole world dream, must evoke love, death and wealth at the same time. Adding elegance and monumentality, I described the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum of the beloved wife of Shah Jahan.
In 1972, for Elizabeth Taylor's 40th birthday, Richard Burton humorously declares that he would have liked to offer her the Taj Mahal but that the monument was not transportable. The real gift is an evocation of it : a Mughal piece of jewelry, which Burton had bought for around £ 350K.
This jewel is centered with a large heart-shaped diamond inserted in a surrounding of same shape in red stones, jade and small diamonds. The diamond is inscribed in Persian : Nur Jahan Baygum Padshah, 23, 1037. The ribbon for using it as a pendant is faded. Liz Taylor has it replaced by Cartier with a gold chain terminated by a fraying of gold threads bearing rubies.
In the Hegira calendar, 1037, corresponding to 1627 CE, is the year of Jahangir's death in the 23rd year of his reign and thus marks the end of the long recency of his wife Nur Jahan. Shah Jahan is the son and successor of Jahangir.
This jewel designated as the Taj Mahal was sold on December 13, 2011 for $ 8.8M from a lower estimate of $ 300K, lot 56 in the auction by Christie's of Elizabeth Taylor's estate.
After the sale, the buyer, who remained anonymous, understands that there is no evidence that the Taj Mahal jewel was ever in the hands of Jahangir or Shah Jahan. He is an important customer and Christie's is attempting to cancel the sale of this lot. The trust in charge of the actress's estate opposed it in 2015 and 2017 by legal complaints, arguing the absence of irregularity. The end of the story is not known.
In 1972, for Elizabeth Taylor's 40th birthday, Richard Burton humorously declares that he would have liked to offer her the Taj Mahal but that the monument was not transportable. The real gift is an evocation of it : a Mughal piece of jewelry, which Burton had bought for around £ 350K.
This jewel is centered with a large heart-shaped diamond inserted in a surrounding of same shape in red stones, jade and small diamonds. The diamond is inscribed in Persian : Nur Jahan Baygum Padshah, 23, 1037. The ribbon for using it as a pendant is faded. Liz Taylor has it replaced by Cartier with a gold chain terminated by a fraying of gold threads bearing rubies.
In the Hegira calendar, 1037, corresponding to 1627 CE, is the year of Jahangir's death in the 23rd year of his reign and thus marks the end of the long recency of his wife Nur Jahan. Shah Jahan is the son and successor of Jahangir.
This jewel designated as the Taj Mahal was sold on December 13, 2011 for $ 8.8M from a lower estimate of $ 300K, lot 56 in the auction by Christie's of Elizabeth Taylor's estate.
After the sale, the buyer, who remained anonymous, understands that there is no evidence that the Taj Mahal jewel was ever in the hands of Jahangir or Shah Jahan. He is an important customer and Christie's is attempting to cancel the sale of this lot. The trust in charge of the actress's estate opposed it in 2015 and 2017 by legal complaints, arguing the absence of irregularity. The end of the story is not known.
1650 Mughal Silk Woven Pashmina Carpet
2022 SOLD for £ 5.4M by Christie's
From the early 17th century, some English visitors to the Mughal empire used to commission magnificent carpets to decorate their luxury houses.
The earlier designs were based on Persian carpets. Around 1650 the fashion for Mughal carpets of North India began to be a lattice with floral forms enclosed within each compartment. The flower had been introduced in Indian art in 1620 when Jahangir, delighted by a spring visit in Kashmir, required painted herbals.
An early carpet in splendid although incomplete condition with a large scale lattice was sold for £ 5.4M from a lower estimate of £ 2.5M by Christie's on October 27, 2022, lot 200. The weave is extremely fine with an average of 672 knots per square inch. It has been shortened from about 440 cm long to a 275 cm square, arguably to get rid of damaged areas. Three additional fragments are known. The fringes are missing.
It is made over a silk foundation of a pile of pashmina wool of Himalayan goat woven with silk warp and weft. The warp threads are blue, green, red and ivory, and the weft is scarlet red. The pile is a deep and brilliant crimson red.
The cartouches formed by twisting leafy vines enclose blooming flowers. The edge is made of similar patterns.
The earlier designs were based on Persian carpets. Around 1650 the fashion for Mughal carpets of North India began to be a lattice with floral forms enclosed within each compartment. The flower had been introduced in Indian art in 1620 when Jahangir, delighted by a spring visit in Kashmir, required painted herbals.
An early carpet in splendid although incomplete condition with a large scale lattice was sold for £ 5.4M from a lower estimate of £ 2.5M by Christie's on October 27, 2022, lot 200. The weave is extremely fine with an average of 672 knots per square inch. It has been shortened from about 440 cm long to a 275 cm square, arguably to get rid of damaged areas. Three additional fragments are known. The fringes are missing.
It is made over a silk foundation of a pile of pashmina wool of Himalayan goat woven with silk warp and weft. The warp threads are blue, green, red and ivory, and the weft is scarlet red. The pile is a deep and brilliant crimson red.
The cartouches formed by twisting leafy vines enclose blooming flowers. The edge is made of similar patterns.
1799 The Bedchamber Sword of Tipu Sultan
2023 SOLD for £ 14M by Bonhams
Tipu Sultan said that he preferred to live one day as a tiger than a lifetime as a sheep. Nicknamed the Tiger of Mysore, the Sultan was one of the leading protagonists in the fight against the British in India during the wars of colonization. He ruled in an utmost luxury, including a monumental octagonal gold throne. He was a great warrior for the Muslim faith.
The Sultan died in battle in 1799 CE during the siege of his capital Seringapatam. Entering his locked bedchamber, the British observed that the Sultan had lived in constant alert. He used to sleep in a hammock suspended from the ceiling with a pair of pistols and a sword within reach by his side.
That single edged Mughal steel sword with a double edged point follows a model of 16th century German blades. The straight blade 38 mm wide is mounted with a hilt and kept in a velvet covered silver gilt wooden scabbard. The overall length in scabbard is 108 cm.
The gold inlaid calligraphy of the hilt records five of the qualities of God and two invocations calling on God by name. Each of the qualities and one of the invocations are repeated several times. An inscription translates as 'The Sword of the Ruler'.
The sword was presented on the spot by the army to Major General Baird who had led the successful assault on Seringapatam. From the Baird archives, it was sold for £ 150K before fees by Dix Noonan Webb on September 19, 2003, lot 3. It was sold for £ 14M by Bonhams on May 23, 2023, lot 175P.
The Sultan died in battle in 1799 CE during the siege of his capital Seringapatam. Entering his locked bedchamber, the British observed that the Sultan had lived in constant alert. He used to sleep in a hammock suspended from the ceiling with a pair of pistols and a sword within reach by his side.
That single edged Mughal steel sword with a double edged point follows a model of 16th century German blades. The straight blade 38 mm wide is mounted with a hilt and kept in a velvet covered silver gilt wooden scabbard. The overall length in scabbard is 108 cm.
The gold inlaid calligraphy of the hilt records five of the qualities of God and two invocations calling on God by name. Each of the qualities and one of the invocations are repeated several times. An inscription translates as 'The Sword of the Ruler'.
The sword was presented on the spot by the army to Major General Baird who had led the successful assault on Seringapatam. From the Baird archives, it was sold for £ 150K before fees by Dix Noonan Webb on September 19, 2003, lot 3. It was sold for £ 14M by Bonhams on May 23, 2023, lot 175P.
The Peacock Necklace
2018 SOLD for HK$ 117M by Christie's
The discovery of the most beautiful variety of sapphires was by accident. In 1881, a merchant brought from the northwestern Himalayas to Simla a piece of blue stone harder than quartz. Other specimens came down from the mountain and at the beginning of the following year a mineralogist of the Indian Museum found that these were true sapphires.
These Kashmir sapphires are sensational in their saturated color, their transparency and their velvety surface. This balance is obtained by the presence of various impurities in the crystal of corundum : tourmaline, pragasite, zircon, allanite, biotite, garnet and even a natural radioactive tracer, the uraninite. Such a mixing is unique and allows to certify the origin of a sapphire without any information about its history.
Back to the early 1880s. The deposit that had been recently laid bare by a landslide is located in a valley of high altitude that required a week of approach walk. The value of these gems is not immediately understood but the local maharajah is able to control the extraction. In 1888, a geologist delegated by the maharajah finds that the vein is already depleted.
This ephemeral mine produced some big sapphires that reach their whole splendor through an emerald shaped cut in a circle of diamonds. One of them weighing 28.18 carats was sold for $ 5.1M by Sotheby's on April 29, 2014.
Another sapphire in a similar fashioning is named The Jewel of Kashmir. It weighs 27.68 carats and was sold for HK $ 52M by Sotheby's on October 7, 2015, lot 1860. Nature achieved the perfect balance between velvety and transparency, in a stunning royal blue hue altogether homogeneous and saturated.
The constitution of a collection to make a necklace is a patient work that can extend over several generations. After being cut into a homogeneous shape, the stones are assembled in a sequence of gradual dimensions.
The Peacock Necklace was sold for HK $ 117M from a lower estimate of HK $ 95M by Christie's on November 27, 2018, lot 2068.
On a platinum necklace 39.5 cm long, 21 Kashmir sapphires are interspersed with white diamonds. All these stones have a cushion shape. The weight of the sapphires ranges between 10.56 and 3.02 carats for a total of 109.08 carats which is staggering in their class. The diamonds are between 4 and 1 carats.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house, revealing that it took almost a hundred years to gather the gems and more than fifteen years to prepare the jewel.
These Kashmir sapphires are sensational in their saturated color, their transparency and their velvety surface. This balance is obtained by the presence of various impurities in the crystal of corundum : tourmaline, pragasite, zircon, allanite, biotite, garnet and even a natural radioactive tracer, the uraninite. Such a mixing is unique and allows to certify the origin of a sapphire without any information about its history.
Back to the early 1880s. The deposit that had been recently laid bare by a landslide is located in a valley of high altitude that required a week of approach walk. The value of these gems is not immediately understood but the local maharajah is able to control the extraction. In 1888, a geologist delegated by the maharajah finds that the vein is already depleted.
This ephemeral mine produced some big sapphires that reach their whole splendor through an emerald shaped cut in a circle of diamonds. One of them weighing 28.18 carats was sold for $ 5.1M by Sotheby's on April 29, 2014.
Another sapphire in a similar fashioning is named The Jewel of Kashmir. It weighs 27.68 carats and was sold for HK $ 52M by Sotheby's on October 7, 2015, lot 1860. Nature achieved the perfect balance between velvety and transparency, in a stunning royal blue hue altogether homogeneous and saturated.
The constitution of a collection to make a necklace is a patient work that can extend over several generations. After being cut into a homogeneous shape, the stones are assembled in a sequence of gradual dimensions.
The Peacock Necklace was sold for HK $ 117M from a lower estimate of HK $ 95M by Christie's on November 27, 2018, lot 2068.
On a platinum necklace 39.5 cm long, 21 Kashmir sapphires are interspersed with white diamonds. All these stones have a cushion shape. The weight of the sapphires ranges between 10.56 and 3.02 carats for a total of 109.08 carats which is staggering in their class. The diamonds are between 4 and 1 carats.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house, revealing that it took almost a hundred years to gather the gems and more than fifteen years to prepare the jewel.
1937 The Story Teller by Sher-Gil
2023 SOLD for INR 62 crores (worth US$ 7.4M) by Saffronart
Amrita Sher-Gil had all the qualities to become a pioneer in the globalization of art. She was born in Budapest to a Sikh aristocrat and a Hungarian opera singer and divided her childhood between India and Europe. From the initiative of an uncle, she studies art in Paris from 1929 to 1934.
Amrita painted intensely during those Parisian years, mostly self-portraits and portraits of friends. She observes her own transition from teenager to adulthood, which is also a passage from shyness to energy and from family life to the free life of Parisian students and artists. She analyzes her feelings with a high psychological curiosity, whilst complacently stating that her supreme model is Van Gogh.
On March 18, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 2.9M a self-portrait signed Rita painted in 1933, lot 1336. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
After her brilliant years as an art student in Paris, Amrita Sher-Gil is back in her home country in 1934. She admires the murals at Ajanta, Padmanabhapuram, and Mattancheri.
Her palette becomes dominated by the reds and browns of her ancestral ground. She now desires to express the essence of traditional Indian life, physiognomies and attires through her perfect control of the European technique of the oil on canvas. Local characters display a grave expression exacerbated by her deep compassion for rural poverty. The simplified forms have been compared to Gauguin's. Her outdoor compositions are rare.
Story telling is a logical theme to Amrita Sher-Gil looking for the roots of Indian rural behavior. Such activity in the village is made obsolete by the broadcasting.
The Story Teller, oil on canvas 59 x 74 cm painted in 1937, was sold for INR 62 crores worth at that time US $ 7.4M from a lower estimate of INR 28 crores by Saffronart on September 16, 2023, lot 13. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. It is classified as a non-exportable national art treasure.
The scene is staging a group of women in a house yard. The woman seated on a chair on the left is the teller and the woman on her side who does not look at her is certainly her assistant. The group of listeners is made of four women seated in various postures plus a sheep, a calf and a dog. There is no place for men in the scenery : the only male figure is going away through a door.
In the Ladies's Enclosure, oil on canvas 54 x 80 cm painted in 1938, features a group of four brown skinned veiled women surrendering at rest to their immuable but self accepted fate. They are accompanied by a young standing girl and a black dog. The composition is completed by a village scene and by two white dressed girls carrying a water pot on the head. Its style is influenced by Rajput miniature paintings. It is classified as a non-exportable national art treasure. It was sold for INR 38 crores by Saffronart on July 13, 2021, lot 13.
Less known internationally than Frida Kahlo, Amrita is one of the women who best appreciated and influenced the avant-garde of her time. She is one of the nine artists whose works were classified National Art Treasures in 1972 by an official act of the Government of India, leading to a ban on the permanent leaving of any of her works.
Amrita painted intensely during those Parisian years, mostly self-portraits and portraits of friends. She observes her own transition from teenager to adulthood, which is also a passage from shyness to energy and from family life to the free life of Parisian students and artists. She analyzes her feelings with a high psychological curiosity, whilst complacently stating that her supreme model is Van Gogh.
On March 18, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 2.9M a self-portrait signed Rita painted in 1933, lot 1336. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
After her brilliant years as an art student in Paris, Amrita Sher-Gil is back in her home country in 1934. She admires the murals at Ajanta, Padmanabhapuram, and Mattancheri.
Her palette becomes dominated by the reds and browns of her ancestral ground. She now desires to express the essence of traditional Indian life, physiognomies and attires through her perfect control of the European technique of the oil on canvas. Local characters display a grave expression exacerbated by her deep compassion for rural poverty. The simplified forms have been compared to Gauguin's. Her outdoor compositions are rare.
Story telling is a logical theme to Amrita Sher-Gil looking for the roots of Indian rural behavior. Such activity in the village is made obsolete by the broadcasting.
The Story Teller, oil on canvas 59 x 74 cm painted in 1937, was sold for INR 62 crores worth at that time US $ 7.4M from a lower estimate of INR 28 crores by Saffronart on September 16, 2023, lot 13. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. It is classified as a non-exportable national art treasure.
The scene is staging a group of women in a house yard. The woman seated on a chair on the left is the teller and the woman on her side who does not look at her is certainly her assistant. The group of listeners is made of four women seated in various postures plus a sheep, a calf and a dog. There is no place for men in the scenery : the only male figure is going away through a door.
In the Ladies's Enclosure, oil on canvas 54 x 80 cm painted in 1938, features a group of four brown skinned veiled women surrendering at rest to their immuable but self accepted fate. They are accompanied by a young standing girl and a black dog. The composition is completed by a village scene and by two white dressed girls carrying a water pot on the head. Its style is influenced by Rajput miniature paintings. It is classified as a non-exportable national art treasure. It was sold for INR 38 crores by Saffronart on July 13, 2021, lot 13.
Less known internationally than Frida Kahlo, Amrita is one of the women who best appreciated and influenced the avant-garde of her time. She is one of the nine artists whose works were classified National Art Treasures in 1972 by an official act of the Government of India, leading to a ban on the permanent leaving of any of her works.
The Evening Sale also achieved #worldrecords for 'The Story Teller', 1937, by Amrita Sher-Gil, which sold for Rs 61.8 crore, making it the highest value achieved for a work by the #artist in #auction worldwide and the most expensive #Indian #artwork sold in auction globally. pic.twitter.com/0MVbP0Uvbn
— Saffronart (@Saffronart) September 18, 2023
1954 Gram Yatra by Husain
2025 SOLD for $ 13.8M by Christie's
The Progressive Artists' Group was created in Bombay (later Mumbai) by six young artists, in 1947 at the time of the bloody riots that resulted from the partition of India and Pakistan. They desired to promote their various styles altogether inspired and departing from the new international art.
Maqbool Fida Husain was a founding member of the group and continued it from 1950 after Souza and Raza had left India. In an unprecedented epic style made of suites of vignettes, he was managing to express the mystic Indian traditions within the rural world, with bold colors in a stylized figuration.
An Untitled frieze painted in 1954 is one such pilgrimage to the village (Gram Yatra). Its thirteen panels are displaying a wide range of rural moments, capturing the relationship between earth and traditional peasants at work, expressing fertility and also populated by various animals. This oil on a single canvas 90 x 420 cm was sold for $ 13.8M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M by Christie's on March 9, 2025, lot 715.
In the same style, another storyboard was painted in 1956 for the Biennale Internazionale d'Arte di Venezia. This oil on canvas 96 x 250 cm is made of nine painted elements and two blank areas. It was sold for £ 1.08M by Christie's on June 10, 2015, lot 27.
A separated vignette titled Yatra, oil on canvas 85 x 110 cm painted in 1955, was sold for $ 930K by Christie's on September 13, 2011, lot 13. A bullock draws in the field a cart populated by the monkey headed god Hanuman and his family. A similar image had been the central view of the 1954 Gram Yatra narrated above.
An assembly of nearly 20 elements titled Zameen, monumental oil on canvas painted in 1955, is kept at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.
Maqbool Fida Husain was a founding member of the group and continued it from 1950 after Souza and Raza had left India. In an unprecedented epic style made of suites of vignettes, he was managing to express the mystic Indian traditions within the rural world, with bold colors in a stylized figuration.
An Untitled frieze painted in 1954 is one such pilgrimage to the village (Gram Yatra). Its thirteen panels are displaying a wide range of rural moments, capturing the relationship between earth and traditional peasants at work, expressing fertility and also populated by various animals. This oil on a single canvas 90 x 420 cm was sold for $ 13.8M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M by Christie's on March 9, 2025, lot 715.
In the same style, another storyboard was painted in 1956 for the Biennale Internazionale d'Arte di Venezia. This oil on canvas 96 x 250 cm is made of nine painted elements and two blank areas. It was sold for £ 1.08M by Christie's on June 10, 2015, lot 27.
A separated vignette titled Yatra, oil on canvas 85 x 110 cm painted in 1955, was sold for $ 930K by Christie's on September 13, 2011, lot 13. A bullock draws in the field a cart populated by the monkey headed god Hanuman and his family. A similar image had been the central view of the 1954 Gram Yatra narrated above.
An assembly of nearly 20 elements titled Zameen, monumental oil on canvas painted in 1955, is kept at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.
1956 Trussed Bull by Mehta
2025 SOLD for INR 62 crores (worth US$ 7.3M) by Saffronart
After a visit to a slaughterhouse in Mumbai, the bull bound for being butchered becomes for Tyeb Mehta a symbol of the horrible human oppression during the bloody riots of the Indian partition.
A Trussed Bull painted in 1956 is his first major painting on that subject, inspired from an Egyptian bas relief exhibited in London at the British Museum. His realistic figuration expresses the resilience of the powerful beast. It is made in colored impastos limited by thick black lines.
This oil on canvas 94 x 105 cm was sold for INR 62 crores worth US $ 7.3M from a lower estimate of INR 5 crores by Saffronart on April 2, 2025, lot 13.
On the same theme, Mehta executed an award winning film in a slaughterhouse in 1970.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house, taking the opportunity of one of the latest works by Mehta in the same sale for offering an overall review of his oeuvre. The 2006 painting was sold for INR 9 crores, lot 15.
A Trussed Bull painted in 1956 is his first major painting on that subject, inspired from an Egyptian bas relief exhibited in London at the British Museum. His realistic figuration expresses the resilience of the powerful beast. It is made in colored impastos limited by thick black lines.
This oil on canvas 94 x 105 cm was sold for INR 62 crores worth US $ 7.3M from a lower estimate of INR 5 crores by Saffronart on April 2, 2025, lot 13.
On the same theme, Mehta executed an award winning film in a slaughterhouse in 1970.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house, taking the opportunity of one of the latest works by Mehta in the same sale for offering an overall review of his oeuvre. The 2006 painting was sold for INR 9 crores, lot 15.
