Leading auction house Christie is expecting to rake in over Rs 50 crores from works by South Asian artists ranging from modern masters to cutting edge contemporary artists like M F Husain, J Swaminathan, Tyeb Mehta and Subodh Gupta at its auction next month in New York.

Master modernist painter Tyeb Mehta's Yellow Heads, which he painted in 1979 was showcased along with Steal 2, an oil on canvas measuring 167.8cm X 228.5 cm by multimedia specialist Subodh Gupta as part of the 20 exclusive art works displayed at a select preview in the capital.

Mehta's Yellow Heads was tagged at between 2 crore to 3.48 crore and Steal 2 was estimated between 3.4 crore and 5 crore.

"The works by over 80 artists are expected to raise between $10 to $14 million," said Sonal Singh, specialist for Indian Modern and Contemporary art.

Contemporary Pakistani artist Rashid Rana's work Two Dimensions, comprising a collage of miniature snapshots of Lahore's urban landscape is estimated to fetch between 3.4 and 5 crore.

Ritual by Maqbool Fida Husain, an untitled 1992 canvas by Manjit Bawa and The Same Old Story, by Rameshwar Broota will also be open for bids.

Writer, political activist and painter Jagdish Swaminathan's two untitled works from the Bird Mountain Series will also go under the hammer.