The Enforcement Directorate auctioned 15 paintings of fugitive businessman Nirav Modi and his wife, Ami Modi.
Topping the bid were Amrita Sher-Gil’s Boys with Lemons, dated 1935, which was sold for ₹15.68 crore, and M.F. Husain’s Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12 that fetched ₹13.44 crore. “It’s a world record for Husain,” said Dinesh Vazirani, auctioneer and co-founder of Saffronart, which conducted the bidding.
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Over 112 items, including paintings, sculptures, cars, luxury watches and bags, were auctioned for ₹53.4 crore across two days on Wednesday and Thursday.
The live auction on Thursday in Mumbai featured 40 lots, including Raja Ravi Varma’s Untitled, which was sold for ₹2.8 crore. Being national treasures, Sher-Gil and Varma’s paintings are not allowed to leave India. Among the bids were V.S. Gaitonde’s Untitled, which was auctioned for ₹9.52 crore, and Manjit Bawa’s Untitled, dated 1992, sold at ₹6.16 crore.
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Mr. Modi’s Rolls-Royce Ghost was sold for ₹1.68 crore. Luxury watches dominated the auction with a Girard-Perregaux wristwatch being sold for ₹95.2 lakh, Audemars Grande Complication wristwatch for ₹78.4 lakh and Patek Philippe’s gold and diamond wristwatch for ₹72.8 lakh.
The online auction on Wednesday garnered a sale total of ₹2.29 crore, generating four times the estimate price. “We saw competitive bidding across categories and countries, with well over 700 advance bids received prior to the auction’s opening, making it one of the most successful online auctions to date,” said Minal Vazirani, president and co-founder, Saffronart.
