150 art works up for grabs at Christie's Sunday sales

Top art auction house Christie's expects the fourth India art sales next Sunday to be vlaued at around Rs 60 crore at the lowest prices range, given the massive increase in the number of offering at 150 lots -- nearly double from last year.
These include 71 lots of classical Indian art, which Christie's introduced as an auction category for the first time last year.
The fourth edition of the India Art Sales will he held at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in South Mumbai.
"This year we are at 144 lots. Our first auction was something like Rs 35 crore in value. At this time, we expect it to be about Rs 60 crore at the low estimate," Christie's India Director Sonal Singh told PTI here today.

The third edition saw the sales touching Rs 97.7 crore, she said.
"But obviously we are selling a lot more. We have consistently seen a growth in interest, bidding and the number of collectors coming in to bid," she said.

Since its first sale in India in December 2013, Christie's has sold over USD 42 million worth of art and antiques in the country.
The latest auction will see lowest price on a art work at Rs 1-1.5 lakh, while the highest price is in the range of Rs 10-15 crore.
The sale will be led by the private art collection (41 works) of Abhishek and Radhika Poddar. The late Tayeb Mehta's painting has the highest price tag at Rs 10-15 crore and also belongs to the Poddar collections.

On the impact of demonetisation on sales, Christie's William Robinson said, "We don't see the potential for a substantial change. We have never accepted any cash payment. Demonetisation should not effect our sales. In addition, we have buyers from all over the world who are completely unaffected."
The auction sees strong bidding from all over the world such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, the US and Britain.
"We have been receiving a lot of interest already. On average 95 per cent of our lots sell over their high estimate. Its only been three years but each year we have been on the the most successful auction if Indian art globally," she said, adding about "50 per cent of our material is brought my domestic collectors. And hope this keeps growing."

Christie's had global auctions, private and digital sales worth USD 3 billion, during the first half of 2016. It offers around 350 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more.
Christie's has a global presence in 46 countries, with 12 sale rooms around the world including Mumbai.