Christie's lines up classical Indian art for Mumbai auction in Dec

A buff sandstone figure of a dancing Ganesha, a Chola granite dvarapala figure and miniature paintings from the ancestral collections of Bikaner royalty will be among the rare items to go under the hammer in an auction to be held by Christie's on December 15, in Mumbai.

Announcing its third consecutive India Sale, the world's largest auction house said that the sale will include a section dedicated to Classical Indian Art for the first time .

William Robinson, International Head of World Art said: "When we made the bold move in 2013 to hold our first sale in India we had hopes of including Indian Classical Art in our auctions in the near future. With the necessary licenses now in place, we are excited to bring our longstanding expertise in this category, which has for so long been one of the cornerstones of our business, to our sales in India. As these objects are not able to be exported, but can still be exchanged in India, they will be safeguarded, and through the cataloguing process they will be properly identified and, for the time they are on exhibition, available for all to see and enjoy."

Auction of Indian antiquities has always been a big draw for Christie's, which shored up a jaw-dropping $134 million in an auction of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Collection in New York in March.

One of the most important works of art offered in the sale is a buff sandstone figure of the dancing Ganesha. The statue is carved with voluptuous form as well as a sense of joyful elegance and agility. This signature piece of the sale will be auctioned at a base price of Rs. 70,00,000. Another life-size early Chola granite dvarapala sculpture from Yamini Krishnamuthi's collection is likely to fetch Rs. 1,20,00,000.

Among other works to be sold will be approximately 80 lots from private and corporate collections. The auction includes modern masterpieces by Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, Ram Kumar, Nasreen Mohamedi, ManjitBawa, Nandalal Bose, AbanindranthTagore and Gaganendranath Tagore.

Gaitonde's Untitled 1995 work maintains a delicate balance of light, texture, colour, and space, which makes the artist's paintings lyrical and luminous.

Another art work to be auctioned is Tyeb Mehta's Untitled (Two Figures) painted in 1981, represents an important turning point in the artist's work, illustrating a growing complexity in composition and the facility of line. In this modernist masterpiece, the heavily textured impressionistic brushstrokes from Mehta's early days are completely transformed into a new painting mode.