"This has been a fabulous sale and we have been able to tap a lot of interest from buyers for the prized lots from the online medium...We are looking forward to the next year's auction," an official at Christie's told reporters late last night after the conclusion of its second India auction.
A New York-based buyer bought the work through an online bid, ending what was initially rapid-fire bidding which turned into a battle of nerves in longish pauses towards the end, till the clinching bid.
The total sale at the evening was Rs 75.27 crore, which is lower than last year's sale, but Christie's said it was far better than the Rs 42-57 crore that it had expected from the sale.
The house also raised Rs two crore towards the charity Khoj International Artists' Association, through the sale of ten lots of renowned painters.
The items on auction included paintings, sculptures and also Rabindranath Tagore's pocket book, which has 270 leaves of manuscript notes, poems, songs, calculations, doodles and drawings, and got sold for Rs 1.7 crore (hammer price).