NEW YORK, NY.- Saffronart, the world’s largest online fine-art auction house, concluded its Autumn Online Auction on September 9th, 2010 with more than half the lots selling above their higher estimate. The auction achieved a total of $6.4 million, reaffirming the strength of the Indian art market.

The two-day auction of Modern and Contemporary Indian art was marked by top prices for several modernists. S.H. Raza garnered great interest with ‘Bhartiya Samaroh’ selling for $905,000. Competitive bidding saw Jogen Chowdhury’s ‘Couple I - Man and Woman’ selling for more than double its estimate at $354,583. The sale also witnessed strong prices for notable works such as the ‘Last Howl from the Cross’ by F.N. Souza which sold for $345,000 and M.F. Husain’s ‘Untitled’ work which sold for $287,500.

Leading contemporary artist Subodh Gupta’s ‘Untitled’ work sold for $271,400 while G. Ravinder Reddy’s ‘Untitled’ iconic sculpture of a woman's head saw intense competition and closed at $256,197.

Following the successful world record sale by Saffronart this summer for Jehangir Sabavala’s work titled ‘The Casuarina Line I’, this season’s offering of Jehangir Sabavala included an earlier canvas work titled ‘Icarus’ which closed at $258,762.

Speaking about the success of the auction, Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and Co-founder of Saffronart said, “We are very happy with the response received to our Autumn Online Auction. The sale saw strong prices achieved across the board as well as sustained bidding from serious and mature collectors and this is a very positive message for the market. The art market continues to show strength and we will continue to witness interest in the works of renowned Indian artists in the coming auctions. Our performance is testament to our focus on presenting some of the best Modern and Contemporary Indian art to the world.”

The Autumn Auction reinforces Saffronart’s position as one of the most definitive sources of modern and contemporary Indian art today. Over the last ten years, Saffronart has attracted a growing number of collectors across the world. With online auctions, fixed price sales, exhibition programs, and technology-enabled services for clients, all connected through an unparalleled online presence, Saffronart has become the world’s largest online fine-art auction house.

Saffronart’s Autumn Online Art Auction was characterized by a strong focus on aesthetic quality, distinguished provenance and competitive pricing. The auction featured 90 works by 43 modern and contemporary Indian artists. The sale saw unprecedented participation from collectors across the world, and closed with a total of $6.4 Million. Notable among the artists featured in the sale were S.H. Raza, F.N. Souza, M.F. Husain, Akbar Padamsee, Subodh Gupta, Manjit Bawa and Jehangir Sabavala. In addition to publishing a print catalogue to accompany the online sale, Saffronart also hosted preview events at Saffronart’s gallery spaces in Mumbai, London and New York.