A stunning image by one of India’s foremost modern artists Jehangir Sabavala led a strong selection of works by major South Asian artists at Bonhams annual summer sale of Modern and Contemporary South Asian art in London. The sale included works by well-known Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan artists such as MF Husain, Jamini Roy, B Prabha, Sadequain, Jamil Naqsh and AR Chughtai and Gulgee sourced from private collections in Europe and the USA. The auction also presented the largest group of works by Pakistani masters to ever come under the hammer at an international auction. Gulgee’s 1965 work titled Buzkashi (15,000-25,000), which depicts Afghanistan’s national sport, was one of the highlights of this section, more than doubling its upper estimate to finally sell at £ 61,250. Other paintings by Pakistani artists in the sale included two pieces by Sadequain, titled Girl with Mirror and Figure in Landscape, which sold for £ 37,250, and £ 43,250 respectively. An untitled piece by Jamil Naqsh also went for £ 43,250, while AR Chughtai’s work, Girl with Instrument, sold for £ 33,650. The highlight of the sale was a serene work by one of India’s foremost modern artists Jehangir Sabavala, Vespers I, which was auctioned for £ 253,650. The second highest price achieved in the sale was a work by the renowned Indian artist MF Husain titled The Blue Lady which made £ 97,250. It was from the private UK collection of John Hay, having been presented to Hay’s mother Elizabeth Partridge by her sister as a wedding present in India.
