One of India's leading auction houses, Saffronart held its sale of classical Indian art, which comprised sculptures and miniatures, yesterday
Ragini Basant of Raga Sri was the highest selling lot, going for Rs 42 lakh
The typically buzzing saleroom of Saffronart was clouded over last evening by reticent bidders, and speculations over the thin market for miniatures. One of India's leading auction houses, Saffronart held its sale of classical Indian art, which comprised sculptures and miniatures, yesterday. Out of the 81 lots that were to go under the hammer, 46 - that's more than half the number - didn't meet their reserve prices and were unsold.
The greatest let-down came in the form of the highlight lot, an astounding sandstone Mahishasurmardini, a non-exportable registered antiquity dating back to the 10th-11th century, pitched to go between Rs 3 crore and Rs 5 crore. Failing to meet its reserve price, the lot was passed.
The auction had 36 lots from the Motichand Khajanchi Collection, out of which 23 were unsold. The highest selling item from this collection, and of the overall sale, was the Ragini Basant of Raga Sri, showing Krishna as the nayak. It was sold for Rs 42 lakh.
Also going for Rs 42 lakh from the sculptures was a bronze Vishnu from Tamil Nadu. The total sale value from last evening was Rs 3.37 crore. Compare this demoralising performance with Saffronart's exhilarating auction of classical Indian art in 2015, which saw a 100 per cent sale of 70 lots for a total value of Rs 16.39 cr.
A double whammy of the lukewarm market for miniatures (a similar outcome was seen at the Christie's Mumbai auction in December 2016) and the high estimates of the sculptures is suspected to be behind the disappointing sales, alongside the continuing demonetisation effect.
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