Jagdish Swaminathan Leads Sotheby's $17m 'Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art' Auction in New York

A work by Jagdish Swaminathan was the headline sale at Sotheby's 'Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art' auction on March 17 in New York.

• The sale totaled $16.82m, exceeding the pre-sale high estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 67 works sold totaling $16.82m.
• Estimates totaled: $4.98m (low) and $8.79m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 94% of the original 71 lots announced.

The star lot was: Jagdish Swaminathan, Homage to Solzhenitsyn (Triptych) (1973), which sold for $4.69m, 368% above its $1m low estimate. It has not been traded before.

The outperformer sold for 2440% above its low estimate. K C S Paniker, Christ Healing Leper; Monk (1961), sold for $127,000 ($5,000 low estimate). It has not been traded before.

• 57 works, or 85%, sold above their high estimate.
• 9 works, or 13%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 1 works, or 1%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

3 works were bought-in, including: Prafulla Mohanti, Untitled (1966), estimated at $18,000 (low) to $25,000 (high).

Withdrawn before the sale

1 work was withdrawn before the sale: Narayan Shridhar Bendre, Untitled (1983) estimated at $24,000 (low) to $34,000 (high).

Terms and definitions

All results include the fees and premiums added to the price of a work of art when the auctioneer's hammer falls. Sale prices are compared to the auction house’s low estimate, which do not include premiums.

Guarantees: Sometimes an auction house guarantees to pay a seller for a work, regardless of whether the bidding reaches the reserve price, a figure that is typically confidential.

Bought-in: If there are no bids for a work, or if bidding falls short of the reserve price, the lot is unsold or “bought-in”.

Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.

Premiums: Typically a sliding-scale of charges paid in addition to the hammer price by the buyer, plus any other fees.