London, Mar 29 (PTI) The Christie’s auction house in London has tied up with Indian design house Good Earth to juxtapose the contemporary with traditional arts and jewellery for its latest auction featuring Indian works on Thursday.
The ‘Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds’ sale features paintings from Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s court in Punjab to his wife Maharani Jindan Kaur’s jewellery as part of over 200 lots.
The lots, which opened to the public for an exhibition over the weekend ahead of the auction, include rare sets of paintings depicting the life of Lord Krishna as well as an intricately handwoven Kashmiri silk shawl, priced between GBP 20,000 and GBP 30,000.
“The lots that I have selected have enchanted me. The opulent and sumptuous carpets and rugs; the inspirational designs and techniques and the noble provenance across the sale are a reminder of our rich cultural past,” said Anita Lal, Founder and Creative Director of Good Earth.
“For me the value lies only in an object’s visual and emotional appeal, and I treasure things from the smallest handmade ceramic vase to a grand sculpture or an antique carpet and I mix them all together,” she said.
The special gallery showcasing this mix of tradition and modernity includes Maharani Jindan Kaur’s diamond and emerald-set enamelled gold bazuband, dating back to the first half of the 19th century and priced between GBP 80,000 and 120,000.
“This is a bazuband that reuses an emerald stone, which is from a much earlier period – probably 17th century,” said William Robinson, International Head of World Art.
“These techniques are developed over centuries and it’s one of the sad things in a way today where we want things now, we want it immediate… at that time something that took 10 years to create would have been prized for a lifetime,” he said.
Robinson’s highlights from the Indian art on display are a pair paintings by celebrated Indian artist Bishan Singh – ‘Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Durbar’, priced between GBP 120,000 and GBP 150,000, and ‘The Amritsar Municipal Committee’ set in 19th century Punjab and priced between GBP 60,000 and GBP 80,000.
“The artist is known for his pictures of (Sikh ruler) Ranjit Singh and here is a variant not seen before. His portraiture on this scale is fantastic, with very strong colouring typical of this period,” added Robinson.
The other lots in the auction range from an Agra Carpet with Mughal “shrub” design, unique for its stylised floral setting mirroring those carved in marble and in-layed with precious stones on the Taj Mahal, and a range of Pahari miniatures.
“I have been enthused by Good Earth’s contemporary collections and design ethos since discovering them several years ago. I immediately recognised the strong symbiosis in their creative along with the markers of the Indian and Islamic worlds which keeps the legacy of Indian heritage alive and present today,” said Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam, Specialist Islamic and Indian Art and Head of Sale at Christie’s.
“It also recognises the vitally important contribution that Indian and Islamic works of art over the centuries, represented in the Christie’s sale have made to today’s artists and craftsmanship as seen at Good Earth,” she said.
The ‘Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including Oriental Rugs and Carpets’ comprises 211 lots in total, with examples of works of art across manuscripts, paintings, ceramics, metalwork and carpets dating from the 9th to 19th century, and with estimates ranging from GBP 2,000 to GBP 2,500,000. PTI AK AMS
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