Raja Ravi Varma's ₹20-cr ‘Mohini’ steals the show at Pundole's auction

All 71 lots, including from the personal collection of designer Pinakin Patel, found new homes, fetching a total ₹82.72 crore, split into a hammer price of ₹71.93 crore and the remainder as premium that buyers pay as commission to the auctineer.

Interestingly, about half the paintings in this sale were works on paper, yet no piece was sold for less than ₹1 crore. Artworks on paper typically command a lower value than those on a canvas by the same artist, as the former are more difficult to protect from damage.

Raja Ravi Varma's "Mohini", the top-seller at the auction, sold for a staggering ₹19.55 crore, exceeding its pre-sale estimate of ₹15 crore, once again reinforcing his popularity among art collectors. Other notable sales included ‘Untitled’ by Nasreen Mohamedi, which fetched ₹12.65 crore, against an estimate of just ₹3 crore. 

This significant difference between the estimated and realised price suggests a growing appetite for art in India. In the last year or so, Indian art has generated a lot of interest from high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals who see it as a profitable investment option.

“The results of Thursday's ‘white-glove’ sale show the depth of the market at all price points. We achieved a world record auction price for a rare canvas by Nasreen Mohamedi, and saw extremely strong prices achieved for several other women artists including Anjolie Ela Menon, Pilloo Pochkhanwala, Zarina Hashmi and B. Prabha. 

All the works offered by the collector and aesthete Pinakin Patel were eagerly bid on by both old and new collectors from home and overseas," Dadiba Pundole, owner of the eponymous auction house, told Mint. "A small sculpture by Adi Davierwalla set a new benchmark for a maquette by the artist. Overall, the sale reflects the strength of India’s growing economy and expanding buyer base."

A white-glove sale refers to an auction where all lots or items on the block are sold.

The past year has been one of the best for Indian art pieces, with over a dozen works selling at multi-crore price tags. At the auction, an artwork by Sayed Haider Raza ‘Bindu Peace’ sold for ₹4.6 crore, against the pre-auction estimate of ₹1.5-2.5 crore. Three Maqbool Fida Husain works also sold for a cumulative ₹13.45 crore, the gallery’s results showed.

Independent art critic Uma Nair said that this sale reaffirmed Varma's place in Indian art's history. “Years ago, MF Husain protested against art critic Geeta Kapur curating works of Varma's in a show at the NGMA art gallery. But this auction gives him the crown and personifies his brilliance from a time period when moderinsm wasn't recognised," she said.

In a recent Christie’s New York auction concluded in March for South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art, Francis Newton Souza's artwork "The Lovers" sold for about ₹40 crore, including buyer's premium, setting a new global benchmark for the artist.

In separate auctions, two paintings by Raza fetched a combined ₹86 crore. One painting, "Kallisté," sold for $5,619,900 (around ₹46 crore) at Sotheby's, while the second, "Paysage Agreste," was sold for €4.75 million (around ₹40 crore) at the Métayer-Mermoz auction house in France.

In late 2023, Raza's piece "Gestation" set a record, selling for ₹51.75 crore (including commissions) at a Pundole's auction. Although this achievement was briefly surpassed earlier this year by Amrita Sher-Gil's "The Story Teller," which fetched ₹61.8 crore, Raza's consecutive high-value sales underscore his enduring impact on the Indian art market.

At another recent Sotheby's auction, an important work by Bhupen Khakhar titled "Hatha Yogi" sold for $1,814,500 ( ₹15 crore).