Rare Indian miniature paintings fetch 4.6 millions pounds in UK

London, October 7

A set of rare Indian miniature paintings, including portraits of Mughal emperors, doubled their pre-sale expectations by fetching a total of 4.6 million pounds at a Sotheby's auction.

The international auction house had offered the Sven Gahlin Collection as part of its India and Islamic Art Week sale this week.

The sale had been described as a landmark single-owner sale, comprising 157 lots of finely-painted Indian miniature paintings.

"Ranging from the 16th to the 19th centuries and encompassing the Mughal, Deccani and Rajput courts, as well as Company School painting from the period of the British Raj, these works are remarkable for their distinguished provenance and exhibition history," Sotheby's said in a statement.

"Many of the paintings are signed by or attributed to royal court artists, commissioned by the elite of the age, providing a glimpse into the refinement, power and privilege of courtly life," it said.

The collector Sven Gahlin is renowned for his connoisseurship and began actively collecting in the 1960s.

The majority of the collection that went under the hammer had not been seen on the market for decades.

Estimates of the lots ranged from 500 pounds to 80,000 pounds and the highlights included portraits of Emperor Bahadur Shah I and Akbar.

Among some of the other highlight items was a Mughal carved jade dagger hilt in the form of a camel head dating back to the 17th century, which fetched 1,99,400 pounds, far exceeding its 30,000-40,000 pounds estimate. PTI