Amrita Sher-Gil auction: The $3-million sale, after a stomach-churning silence

Silence can sometimes be deafening, especially when an auctioneer has a masterpiece to sell. Priyanka Mathew, who was announced as the head of Sotheby's India operations in Mumbai on Tuesday, recalls one such instance. The masterpiece in question was an Amrita Sher-Gil self-portrait (below) which fetched a record price of $3million in a New York auction this year. But before the sale happened, Mathew reveals that there was silence for nearly four minutes right after the lot took centre stage. That's a long time in the auction business where lots (items being sold) usually begin to sell within 60 seconds.

The reserve price for Sher-Gil's work was $1.2-1.8 million which many patrons told Mathew prior to the auction was too aggressive. "I had taken about 30 lots. After which, this painting came up," says Mathew, who was the auctioneer for the event. "It felt like an eternity before we got a bid. My stomach was sinking. I thought that we were not going to sell the painting. Four minutes passed. Then somebody started bidding and the floodgates opened."

Sher-Gil painted the 18x13 inch selfportrait in Paris when she was 19.

More Sher-Gil on sale

Another Sher-Gil selfportrait will be up for sale in the Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art auction in London on October 6. The painting (1931) has an estimated price between £1.5-2 million.