Sothebys to hold auction highlights in Mumbai

Sotheby's is delighted to announce that on Thursday, February 28, 2008, it will host an exhibition at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel in Mumbai of highlights from its forthcoming sales of Indian Art, Contemporary Asian Art and Jewellery which are scheduled to take place in New York and London this spring. Sotheby's is a global company that engages in art auction, private sales and art-related financing activities in 40 countries around the world and has conducted some of the greatest sales of Indian Contemporary Art in the world. The event will be hosted by Sotheby's senior management and international specialists in the Jewellery and Indian and Contemporary Asian Art fields.

Henry Howard-Sneyd, Deputy Chairman of Sotheby's Europe and Asia, commented, "It is becoming increasingly clear that India and Indian collectors globally are an important force for Sotheby's existing and future international business. Sotheby's is thrilled to be bringing a group of highlights from key sales in New York and London this spring to Mumbai."

Highlights of great importance will be travelling to Mumbai where the following Sotheby's experts will be in attendance: Henry Howard-Sneyd, Deputy Chairman, Europe & Asia, Lord Mark Poltimore, Deputy Chairman, Sotheby's Europe; Zara Porter Hill, Director & Head of Indian and Southeast Asian Art; Holly Brackenbury, Deputy Director, Islamic and Indian Art; Anu Ghosh, Deputy Director, Indian and South East Asian Art; Lisa Hubbard, Chairman, Sotheby's Jewellery, North & South America; David Bennett, Chairman, Sotheby's Jewellery, Europe and the Middle East; Alexandra Rhodes, Senior Director, Sotheby's Jewellery; Xiaoming Zhang, Vice President & Head of Chinese Contemporary Art in New York and Maithili Parekh, Deputy Director, Business Development, London.

Indian Art Auction in New York on March 19

The first of three such sales at Sotheby's this year, the auction will be represented in Mumbai by a select group of important works by leading names in the field such as Arpita Singh, Syed Haider Raza, Anjolie Ela Menon, Jagdish Swaminathan and Francis Newton Souza. Francis Newton Souza's oil on board entitled Head of a Man is the highest value work in the sale. Dating from 1955, the striking painting, illustrated right, captures the artist's fascination with church music and stained glass windows. It is estimated to sell for $280,000-380,000.

Arpita Singh's canvas Amina Kidwai With Her Dead Husband, shows two mourning and anxious figures. Family, friends and neighbours in their everyday surroundings are a regular theme in Singh's work and many also show her personal vision of the role of women in contemporary Indian society. Despite the painting's sombre subject matter, its palette is bright and bold and the work is observed in loving detail and rendered with patience and humility. This startling contradiction of colour and subject, which is estimated at $200,000-300,000, is another recurring feature in Singh's oeuvre.

An Untitled canvas by Jagdish Swaminathan captures the artist's deep spiritual reverence for the unrealised universe. The mountainous forms appear to be abstracted in the manner of an aerial map but conceptually the work is more complex. The delicate bird, the only identifiable feature, creates a scale which suggests that the landscape is instead a magnified view of minutiae. The canvas is estimated to sell for $180,000-220,000. Haider Raza's Untitled work will be another notable highlight and, estimated at $100,000-150,000, it displays his characteristic merging of the modernity of Europe and America and the spirituality of India.

Contemporary Art Asia: China, Japan, Korea Auction in New York on March 17

The last 18 months have seen new records and benchmarks continually set in the exciting field of Chinese Contemporary Art and the forthcoming New York sale will present an impressive line-up of works by Zhao Wuji (Zao Wou-ki), Yan Pei-Ming, Liu Ye, Zhang Xiaogang and Wang Guangyi. All of these artists will be well represented in the Mumbai exhibition.

Mao by Yan Pei-Ming is one of the highlights of the exhibition. The artist is best known for his epic-size portraits of himself, his relatives and famous figures such as Mao, Pope Paul and Bruce Lee. With their forceful brushstrokes and expressive drips, his portraits command the attention of both crowd and connoisseur. Mao, illustrated above right and estimated to sell for $400,000-600,000, dates from 1998 and is one of a number of paintings that he completed of the great leader. In it he emphasises the play of light and shadow in the modelling of a three-dimensional form and Mao's facial expression seems confident and discerning, which is highly appropriate for a man who held so much power.

Also included in the exhibition is Zhao Wuji's 30.11.67. Acquired directly from the artist, the painting was last seen in public in 1968 at the San Francisco Museum of Art. It is also estimated to sell for $400,000-600,000,

An Untitled work by Liu Ye encapsulates the bridge between the realms of childhood and maturity and in turn makes a much wider comment on the adolescence of China as it evolves into a global power after decades of international isolation. The artist appears to hold the playful spirit of youth in high regard and urges children to partake in the fun for as long as possible, leaving the serious work of economic development and trade domination to adults who are chained to their desks and mobile phones. Untitled, which is estimated to sell for $380,000-450,000, was executed in 2000 and it is an arresting image of both innocence and trepidation, bound together as the future is bound to the past.

Further highlights will comprise an oil work from Zhang Xiaogang's Bloodline Series No. 8, which is estimated at $250,000-350,000, and a canvas entitled Cartier from Wang Guangyi's popular Great Criticism series, which offers a humorous critique of world affairs, particularly the cultural revolution era communist ethos as sponsored by corporate powerhouses from around the world. Cartier is estimated at $200,000-300,000.

Magnificent Jewels Auction in New York on April 17

A selection of the finest jewels from the forthcoming magnificent Jewels sale will be travelling to Mumbai and the undoubted star of the show will be an emerald-cut diamond which carries an estimate of $1,800,000-2,500,000. Weighing 24.42 carats, flanked by tapered baguette diamonds and mounted on platinum, the diamond is D colour and VVS1 clarity and is accompanied by an original working diagram stating that it may potentially be flawless. Furthermore, it has been verified as a type 11a diamond, a classification that refers to its limited or lack of nitrogen and one that less than 2% of the world's diamonds fall into. 11a diamonds originate from the legendary Golconda region of India, which is renowned for producing some of the world's most famous and historically important diamonds. The diamond's absence of colour, exceptional transparency, large size and beautiful cut all give rise to a highly desirable stone.

A striking pair of diamond earrings that comprise 10.05 and 10.03 carat stones "� both F colour and VS1 clarity - within simple platinum mounts is another of the more high value lots in the New York sale. The pair is estimated at $1,500,000-2,000,000.

Other highlights will include a pair of invisibly-set diamond bracelets by Oscar Heyman & Brothers, an 8.73 carat, emerald-cut, fancy intense yellow diamond ring and three pieces by Van Cleef & Arpels which consist of a diamond ring, bracelet and necklace-bracelet combination. These five items range in estimate from $60,000-80,000 to $150,000-200,000.

Indian Art Auction in London on May 2

Akbar Padamsee, TV Santosh and Subodh Gupta, whose Sunday Lunch sold for $462,000 in the recent RED Auction in New York, are names that will headline the works on exhibit from the annual London Indian Art sale. A rare and early figurative work by Akbar Padamsee, dating from 1956, is estimated at £150,000-200,000 while an important Untitled oil by Subodh Gupta has an estimate of £70,000-100,000. TV Santosh's A Handful of Ashes, dates from 2003, and is expected to fetch £30,000-40,000.

* Pre-sale estimates do not include buyer's premium