Christie's second art auction in the country saw 78 works by Indian artists fetching a total of Rs 75.27 crore, including a whopping Rs 17.54 crore paid for a canvas by Tyeb Mehta, leading the global house to promise a return to the country next year as well.
"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.
At the auction, an untitled work of Mehta depicting a falling bull got sold for Rs 17.54 crore, including the hammer price of Rs 15 crore and a buyer's premium, which was much above the Rs 12 crore at the upper band which the house was expecting.
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.
An official explained that at the maiden India auction last year - which saw a work by V S Gaitonde getting sold at Rs 28 crore, the highest ever fetched by an Indian artist - the presence of a rich collection in the lots resulted in higher bids, while this year, the house picked from various collectors.
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).
