Saffronart's first big auction of 2022 breaches Rs 100 crore

Works of Raja Ravi Varma and Tyeb Mehta lead sales, with 89% lots sold

Saffronart has reported record sales for its first big auction this year that took place on Wednesday, with new milestones being set for modern masters such as Tyeb Mehta, M V Dhurandhar, Raja Ravi Varma and Pilloo Pochkhanawala.

The Mumbai-based leading art auction house’s Spring Live Auction generated total sales value of Rs 104.1 crore ($13.87 million), with 89.09 per cent of the lots sold.

The most sought after artworks were Mehta’s Untitled (Bull on Rickshaw) (1999) that fetched Rs 41.97 crore ($5.59 million), making it the highest value achieved by the artist in auctions and the second-most expensive work of Indian art sold globally; and Varma’s Draupadi Vastraharan (circa 1888-1890, lot 13), which sold for Rs 21.6 crore ($2.88 million), making it the second-highest value achieved by the artist in auctions globally.

The highest ever value garnered by an artist, only ahead of Mehta, has been V S Gaitonde for around Rs 48 crore at current market prices.

Raja Ravi Varma’s Draupadi Vastraharan (circa 1888-1890, lot 13): Rs 21.6 cr ($2.88 mn), the second-highest value achieved by the artist in auctions

Pochkhanawala’s untitled wooden sculpture (lot 12) exceeded its hammer price more than four times to bid Rs 1.44 crore ($192,000), also the second-highest value achieved by the artist in an auction.

What’s driving the sustained demand for high-value art?

Saffronart CEO and Co-Founder Dinesh Vazirani said, “Overall, the pandemic has changed mindsets for people. There is more research and the serious collectors have become even more serious and more engaged and continue to use their wealth to invest in art.”

He went on to add that the current and more recent auctions from last year have shown that there are fewer speculators bidding in what is turning out to be a strong market for big expensive works by Indian art masters. The other factor working in favour of the art market is that stellar works are limited in supply and only become more valuable as demand continues to grow. Newer buyers include hedge fund professionals in Europe and the Far East and Europe and professionals who have built successful technology businesses.

Saffronart typically conducts four big auctions every year. Last year, its top four auctions generated around Rs 300 crore in sales, Vazirani said.

M V Dhurandhar Untitled (Draupadi Vastraharan) (1934): Rs 8.04 cr ($1.07 mn)

Other highlights from this auction include Nicholas Roerich’s St Mercurius of Smolensk (1919; lot 39), which sold for Rs 3 crore ($400,000); Jehangir Sabavala’s A Blue Lake, A Leafless Tree (lot 48), which was bought for Rs 2.52 crore ($336,000); Arpita Singh’s Twenty-seven Ducks of Memory (1996; lot 25), sold for Rs 2.16 crore ($288,000); N S Bendre’s Untitled (Two Women Working) (1968; lot 32), sold for Rs 1.02 crore ($136,000); F N Souza’s untitled gouache and ink on paper from 1945 (lot 8) that was bought for nearly four times its lower estimate at Rs 96 lakh ($128,000); and Bhupen Khakhar’s Untitled (1995; lot 26), which sold for nearly twice its lower estimate at Rs 57.6 lakh ($76,800).

Christie’s had earlier confirmed that there was a 31 per cent increase in the number of buyers from India in 2021 as compared to 2020, and Indian sales numbers went up by around 25 per cent in 2020 and 15 per cent in 2019.

There are other micro-trends at play. Dhurandhar’s Untitled (Draupadi Vastraharan) (1934) went for more than a million dollars (Rs 8.04 crore). “His peak was around 1920 and while he took influences from Raja Ravi Varma, who was the dominant talent in the South, he was the ‘Master of the North and the West’,” Vazirani said.

According to art enthusiast Udit Bhambri, one reason why prices could be shooting up is the presence of institutional interest. “We didn’t have private museums or museum acquisitions as we do now.”

The growing prices of a few artists also indicates the shortage of the supply of their works and this is a strong indicator that in the future there will be other “collectible names” that will get their place in the sun.

It may take a decade or so for the transition to happen, but it will.