MUMBAI.- Christie’s announces that it will hold its second auction in Mumbai on Thursday 11th of December 2014. This follows the success of the inaugural auction in India held a year ago. Christie’s is the only international auction house to conduct annual sales in India, demonstrating its continued commitment to the art market in the country. The sale will take place at The Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai with a pre-sale viewing, open to the public, from 9 to 11 December. A strong selection of works will be also publicly previewed in New Delhi at The Taj Mahal Hotel from 28 to 30 November.

The inaugural sale in 2013 established the highest price for a work of art ever sold in India* and the sale total of INR 96,59,37,500 (USD$15,455,000) doubled pre-sale expectations with 98% of the lots sold, a testament to the strength of the market and the interest in India’s cultural heritage from the national and international collecting community.

The sale on 11 December 2014, starting at 7.00 pm will be offering approximately 80 lots of the best of Modern and Contemporary Indian art. With the specialist team still working on the consignments for the sale, early highlights include The Green Cape by Jehangir Sabavala, painted in 1974, with a pre-sale estimate of INR 1,20,00,000-1,80,00,000, an early work by Tyeb Mehta, entitled Girl in Love, from 1957, which will be offered with an estimate of INR 70,00,000 – 90,00,000 and Bhupen Khakhar’s reverse painting on glass from the 1970s, Untitled (Chavanu), with an estimate of INR 40,00,000 – 60,00,000. These initial highlights shed light on a critical period in the development of Indian modernism and of the artists’ oeuvres as well. Alongside these masterpieces, a separate section of striking contemporary works by artists including Subodh Gupta, Rashid Rana, Mithu Sen, Thukral & Tagra, Nilima Sheikh and Bharti Kher will be offered to benefit the Delhi based Khoj International Artists Association, a globally recognised artist residency. All the artists have donated works to Khoj exclusively for this sale.

2014 marks the 20th year that Christie’s has had a presence in India. Christie’s is also delighted to support other art and cultural initiatives held around the country, highlighted by the India Art Fair in New Delhi and this year’s Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

This October New York will be under the spell of Indian culture with the opening on 26 October of the much-anticipated Vasudeo S. Gaitonde retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum and the inauguration the following evening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of Treasures from India: Jewels from the Al-Thani Collection. Christie’s is one of the sponsors for the Gaitonde exhibition and our International Director of Asian Art, Dr. Amin Jaffer, made the original study of the Al Thani collection for his book, Beyond Extravagance. Alongside these prestigious events, Christie’s will be previewing a selection of highlights from The India Sale at its Rockefeller Center galleries in New York.

Further highlights from Christie’s auction of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art in Mumbai will be announced in due course.