Tea company's collection of South Asian Modern art soars at Christie's London

Christie’s held its first South Asian art auction in London since 2019 on 11 June, achieving a white-glove, 93-lot single-owner sale totaling £18.9m with fees, far above its £2.9m–£4.3m pre-sale estimate (excluding fees). A 1922 portrait of Mahatma Gandhi by Abanindranath Tagore sold for £820,000 (£1m with fees), more than 15 times its £50,000 high estimate and roughly doubling the artist’s prior auction record of £409,000 set at Christie’s New York in 2013. The star lot was Ganesh Pyne’s Fisherman (1977), which jumped past its £350,000 high estimate to hammer at more than £3m (£3.8m with fees), setting a new record after last selling at Sotheby’s in 1997 for under £7,000. Market sources identified the consignor as the Kolkata-based Goodricke Group (majority owned by Camellia PLC), which Camellia’s 2025 annual report (published 30 April 2026) said was selling UK-based assets including art to increase profitability.

Read the full article at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events