Husain, Raza works to go under hammer in London

The Modern and Contemporary South Asian art auction on June 7 will also feature works of other artists like Jamini Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, Avinash Chandra, B Prabha, George Keyt, Sadequain, Jamil Naqsh and A R Chughtai sourced from private collections in Europe and the US.

A leading work on sale is the serene 'Vespers I' (100,000-150,000 pounds) by one of India's foremost modern artists Jehangir Sabavala.

Illustrated on the cover of his monograph by Ranjit Hoskote, The Crucible of Painting: The Art of Jehangir Sabavala, 'Vespers I' is one of Sabavala's most important works, representing a key period of transition in the artist's oeuvre.

"Sabavala had a lifelong fascination with monastic life, and the figures of the monk and the hermit are central to his work. Indeed, he often compared his long, solitary and disciplined hours of work in the studio with a monk's routine of study, prayer, retreat and meditation," says independent curator Hoskote, who was responsible for the Indian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2011.

Souza's 'Still Life with Fish and Bread' is estimated to sell for 100,000-150,000 pounds while Husain's 'The Blue Lady' is expected to fetch 90,000 pounds.

The auction will also present the largest group of works by Pakistani masters to ever come under the hammer at an international auction. Works in the sale by Faiza Butt, Khadim Ali and Anwar Saeed represent a contemporary generation of Pakistani artists.