Miniatures beat the art market downturn

KOLKATA: Tracing a contrarian trend, amid a slowdown in the art market, Indian miniature paintings are attracting buyers��� interest, especially internationally.

The centuries-old miniatures, incidentally, had not participated in the feverish price rise during the art boom. On an average, the best of miniature paintings are ruling at price levels of $20,000-30,000. And, the absolutely creamy layer of the minatures are commanding brackets between $150,000 and $200,000.

���While interest in Indian Modern and Contemporary art had surged worldwide over the past years, one had noticed that lesser attention had been paid to the centuries-old craftsmanship revolving around miniature paintings. These works had long been undervalued and under-rated.

But, lately, these tiny jewel-like works, barely a few inches high and painstakingly detailed, are gaining the prominence they deserve among Indian collectors. These delicate, intensely detailed, and beautiful masterworks are finally making a long-awaited comeback,��� Ms Maithili Parekh, Sotheby���s deputy director, told ET.

Miniatures, divided into several schools across India, including the more well-known ones such as Mughal, Deccan and Rajput, were once highly prized and sought after, with eminent collectors from both Europe and America hoarding them with determined intent.

Dutch master Rembrandt, Maria Theresa of Austria and French painter Delacroix were all collectors. Rembrandt, who owned a modest collection of Mughal miniatures, even set about copying a few, admiring them for their naturalism and intricate detailing.

In India, the maharajas, for whom these miniatures were usually painted, had in their palaces hundreds of albums, usually brought out only at parties to be passed around among guests. The experience was unabashedly elitist and intimate; they were not meant to be displayed on walls, as is the custom today.

���During the 20th century, however, when royal families were stripped of their purses, maharajas started to sell miniatures by the dozen, usually to British collectors in the post-Independence era. They were sold by the pound to whoever would buy them, to dealers or some enterprising Western collector. That���s how they were dispersed and made their way into the West,��� Ms Parekh said.

Among some of the interesting miniature pieces which featured in international auctions, the Celestial Figure created in Guler in 1780 fetched about $20,000-30,000. In step, an illustration from the Harivamsa, Krishna and His Consorts Frolick in the Heavens from 1820 sold at $98,500, more than double its estimate.

At higher levels, a museum quality, published illustration from The Gita Govinda, Krishna and Radha in a Bower was picked up close to $300,000.