Asian Sales At Christie's Achieve Record Total At $46.2 Million

NEW YORK CITY

:Sales of Indian and Southeast Asian art and Modern and contemporary Indian art finalized Christie's Asia Week. The total result for Christie's seven sales during Asian Art this week was $46,218,400, the highest ever for Christie's Asia week in New York.

The salesroom for both auctions were overflowing with clients and was the best indicator for the day's results. The morning sale of Indian and Southeast Asian art saw solid prices, the highest one reaching $240,000 for a gilt bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni from the Yongle period. The sale totaled $3.8 million.

Hugo Weihe, international director Asian art and head of the Indian and Southeast Asian art department, said, "The morning session of Indian and Southeast Asian art inspired spirited bidding from an international audience.

Highlights spanned a broad range of interests, including the gilt bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni, which realized $240,000, the Chola bronze Somaskanda and the Khmer Baphuon torso, each realizing $228,000. The sale selection overall was well received by the discerning collector."

Rounding out the top lots in the morning sale were a buff sandstone figure of a dancing Devi, India, Madhya or Uttar Pradesh, Twelfth Century, $216,000; a large buff sandstone figure of Shiva, Khmer, Angkor period, Angkor Thom style, Bayon, late Twelfth/early Thirteenth Century, $168,000; a gray sandstone figure of Vishnu, Khmer, Angkor period, Angkor Wat style, Twelfth Century, $162,000; large gilt copper repousse figure of Tara, Nepal, Seventeenth-Nineteenth Century, $156,000; mottled gray stone head of Brahma or Shiva, Khmer, Angkor period, Bayon style, early Thirteenth Century, $108,000; volcanic stone figure of Tara, Eastern Java, circa Thirteenth Century, $102,000; and a black stone figure of Buddha, Northeastern India, Bihar, Eleventh Century, $96,000.

The great interest in the morning session generated much excitement for the following sale of Modern and contemporary Indian art, which was 99 percent sold by value and 94 percent by lot. Buyers were eager to be chosen as the winning bidder for every lot and pushed the cover lot, Vasudeo Gaitonde's untitled over the $1 million mark to $1.5 million, setting a world auction record for the artist. The sale was an overall success, realizing $15.6 million, a record for the field of Modern and contemporary Indian Art, and breaking 14 world auction records.

Yamini Mehta, specialist head of Modern and contemporary Indian art, commented, "The record breaking result reinforces Christie's position as the market leader in the field of contemporary Indian art. The sky seems to be the limit for this collecting category."

"With Christie's leading the way into the million-dollar universe last season, when Tyeb Mehta's 'Mahisasura' sold for nearly $1.6 million, this collecting area has grown at an outstanding rate."

"The top prices of the sale were still reserved for the well-known and extremely publicized Progressive Movement artists," Mehta continued, "such as Gaitonde, Souza, Raza, Husain and Ram Kumar, but at the same time we did see a strong surge in both interest and price for the next generation, contemporary artists such as Subodh Gupta, Rameshwar Broota and Ravinder Reddy, who in their own right have changed artistic border."

Rounding out the sale's top ten lots were Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), untitled (Seated Nude), 1962, $800,000; Syed Haider Raza (b 1922), "Tarangh," 1975, $744,000; Tyeb Mehta (b 1925), "Blue Torso," 1973, $632,000; Maqbool Fida Husain (b 1915), "Sita Hanuman," 1979, $576,000 (world auction record for the artist); Maqbool Fida Husain (b 1925), untitled, 1960, $553,600; Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), untitled (Night landscape with flowering trees), 1956, $486,400; Ram Kumar (b 1924), untitled (Benares), 1967, $452,800; Maqbool Fida Husain (b 1915), untitled, 1960s, $374,400; and Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), untitled (Blue Cityscape), 1961, $374,400.

Prices reported include buyer's premium. For information, 212-636-2000 or www.Christies.com.