Art markets that had suffered a major confidence loss and real-term losses at the peak of the recession and worldwide economic turmoil showed encouraging signs. A clear indication of this was vigorous bidding for modern art from India and a classical Chinese painting that set a new record at Sotheby's sale. 'Two Mynas on a Rock’, a 1692 work by Bada Shanren, went for $ 2.994 million, thus setting a new US record for classical Chinese art works.
The pre-auction price estimate for it was just $ 400,000-600,000. Another US record was registered for Chinese calligraphy, drawing almost four times more than the pre-sale estimate. The vice chairman of Sotheby's (Asian Art), Henry Howard-Sneyd, pointed to an increased ‘appetite for fresh-to-the-market works that were priced conservatively’.
Christie's opened their Asian sales on a strong note, too, with modern & contemporary south Asian art as well as classical Indian & Southeast Asian works up for grabs. Among the highlights was a large acrylic painting ‘Gestation’ by Raza. It fetched million dollars compared to a pre-sale estimate of $ 600,000-800,000.
Most paintings easily made their reserve prices and a large proportion of them cleared apparently conservative estimates. Manjit Bawa’s 1999 oil painting of a goddess and a lion went for $ 360,000, almost double the high estimate. Two paintings by Husain fetched $ 150,000 and $ 210,000, compared to the high estimate of $ 80,000 and $ 120,000 dollar, respectively.The recovery process is expected to be steady rather than spectacular, but no one is complaining.
The international specialist head for Christie's, Hugo Weihe, observed:
"It’s a very smart market; it's spot on. People recognize quality. The Raza selling at one million is fantastic, but for us it was clear: this was a seminal work by the artist."
Though the market is wary, the interest is now there. According to auctioneers, people are keen on quality and are averse to risk-taking.
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