An untitled work by eminent painter M.F. Husain sold for over Rs.2 crore at the Saffronart Spring Online Auction 2010.
The art work that crossed the Rs.2 crore mark shows four horses and a female rider and was painted by Husain 1970.
The Saffronart auction Wednesday witnessed a resurgence in demand for works by pioneering contemporary masters, said a statement issued by the Mumbai-based online art auction house.
A 1953 portrait by Akbar Padamsee, "Prophet", sold for Rs.1.25 crore against an estimate of Rs.36 lakh while F.N. Souza's "Decomposing Head" went for Rs.1.57 crore against an estimate of Rs.1.12 crore.
Subodh Gupta's "Doot" sold for Rs.1.75 crore. The online auction raked in Rs.21 crore ($4.6 million).
Said Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and co-founder of Saffronart: "The strong results of our spring Online Auction 2010 are an affirmation of the renewed confidence of the growing collector base for Indian art. The results from the auction indicate a consistent demand from collectors for top quality and rare works with important provenance."
Saffronart’s Spring Online Auction featured 100 works by 47 modern and contemporary Indian artists including M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza, Manjit Bawa, Akbar Padamsee, Subodh Gupta, Shibu Natesan, Anju Dodiya and Jagannath Panda.