Posted: 3 September 2021
Category: Company News
Indian Painting Discovered
Every week in the Antiques Trade Gazette, the newspaper of choice for the antiques trade and auctioneers, there is a feature on pieces that have sold for a figure well in excess of the guide price. Frequently a Chinese work of art or antique is the focus of attention but it is also just as easy for a valuer to be tripped up by Indian and Islamic items.
If we are ever unsure we seek the opinion of one of our many consultants that have true expertise in their specialist field. The other month the occasion arose to obtain an opinion on an Indian gouache painting. It had an old Christie’s stencilled inventory mark on the back board and when checked with their archivist it revealed it was consigned for appraisal in the 1980s but returned to the owner as it had insufficient value to warrant inclusion in one of their auctions.
Move on 30 years and the market has changed with Indian works of art in strong demand from wealthy collectors buying back a piece of their cultural heritage. The expert identified the painting was executed in Delhi in around 1830 and is in the manner of the better known albums of local personages commissioned by the East Indian Company officer James Skinner.
It was entered into a specialised online auction of Indian Works of Art with a guide price of £1500 – £2000 and recently sold for £2600.
The owner had absolutely no idea it could be so valuable so was understandably thrilled with the result.
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