NEW YORK, NY.- As part of Asian Art Week, Christie’s New York salerooms will host a wealth of masterworks from the Indian subcontinent with the Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art sale on 13 September and the South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art sale on 14 September 2016. The auctions will present historic sculptures, bronzes and court paintings alongside art by established modern Indian artists, such as Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Syed Haider Raza and leading contemporary masters including Bharti Kher, Shilpa Gupta, A. Balasubramaniam, Anju Dodiya, Atul Dodiya, Jitish Kallat and Ranjani Shettar. The works will be on view and open to the public at the Rockefeller Plaza from 9 September 2016.

Leading the Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art sale is a rare and monumental gray schist figure of a Bodhisattva (estimate: $600,000 - 800,000), epitomising the highly-skilled carving for which Gandharan sculptors from this period are known, along with a gray schist figure of a standing Buddha from Gandhara, 2nd/3rd century (estimate: $100,000 - 200,000). This beautifully carved Buddha is flanked by Indra and Brahma on either side, a composition rarely seen in narrative scenes from this time. A further highlight is a gilt bronze figure of Vasudeva-Kamalaja from Nepal, 13th/14th century (estimate: $40,000 - 60,000). An elegant example of early Malla sculpture, the sophisticated rendering represents a classic example of Newari craftsmanship. Additional standout lots in the richly curated and geographically diverse sale include black stone figures of Ganesha (estimate: $30,000 - 40,000) and Durga (estimate: $25,000 - 35,000) from North East India, Pala period, 11th/12th century along with a wooden panel of Durga slaying a demon from Kerala, 17th century (estimate: $20,000 - 30,000).

Following Christie’s last two auctions of South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art in London and Mumbai, which set a new benchmarks for Vasudeo S. Gaitonde and achieved a new world auction record for any modern Indian work of art, the New York sale will be led by an important canvas by the artist (estimate: $1,800,000-2,200,000). The work was painted in 1970 at a moment when Gaitonde was recognised as being at the peak of his artistic powers – in fact the following year, he would receive the prestigious Padma Shri award. Gaitonde’s unmistakable treatment of the canvas using a roller and pallet knife, layering, adding and taking away pigment give the painting a marine like quality, conveying his artistic philosophy through its ebbs and flows. The painting, which displays a kind of non-objective chiaroscuro, is a meditative masterpiece and represents a cornerstone in Gaitonde’s oeuvre

The auction will further present a selection of important works by modern masters including Syed Haider Raza, Francis Newton Souza, Maqbool Fida Husain and Jehangir Sabavala, alongside pivotal works by contemporary artists such as Bharti Kher, Shilpa Gupta, Jitish Kallat and Ranjani Shettar. Bharti Kher’s, 2006 triptych Mother of Anything Possible, Anytime (estimate: $200,000 - 300,000) resembles a dense constellation in space through the assembly of thousands of tightly packed bindis in the first two panels. The third, more vibrant panel, displays differently shaped bindis that move in kaleidoscopic formation across the surface, perhaps suggesting the diversity and constant flux of the modern world. Fusing symbolism, history and metaphor with an aesthetic of abstraction, Kher’s vivid work is monumental in both scale and meaning. The sale will also offer work by the celebrated multi-media conceptual artist Shilpa Gupta whose work has been exhibited at major international institutions, including the Tate Modern in London, the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Gupta’s Someone Else: A Library of 35 Books Written Anonymously or Under Pseudonyms, executed in 2011-12 (estimate: $40,000 - 60,000) features thirty-five books that were originally published under pseudonyms, recreated in etched stainless steel. A testament to impositions, vulnerabilities, fears and freedom, Gupta contrasts the permanence of engraved stainless steel, typically reserved for marking identities in museums or at entrance doors of homes, with the book covers written under false names.

A selection of works in the auction have been donated directly by the artists to The Pamela and Ajay Raju Foundation with proceeds to benefit the Germination Project — an initiative established by Pamela and Ajay Raju to fund education and youth programs in Philadelphia. The remarkable showcase includes work by A. Balasubramaniam, Anju Dodiya, Atul Dodiya, Jitish Kallat and Ranjani Shettar. Jitish Kallat’s Sightings Gen-Aub-D28M6Y2016 (estimate $40,000 - 60,000) playfully uses scale and perception to allude to the cosmos through close-up and negative images of the skins of everyday fruit and vegetables. The series of prints all have long, seemingly scientific names that are actually the dates of Kallat’s visit to purchase the fruit at Pali Naka market.

Also to benefit the Germination Project is Ranjani Shettar’s Chrysalis (estimate: $80,000 - 120,000), executed in 2016. Hand-molded using organic materials including beeswax, thread and wooden beads, Shettar’s delicate Chrysalis is the fifth work in a series of sculptural installations, which also includes Just a Bit More, exhibited in the show On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2010-11. As one of India’s leading contemporary artists, Shettar’s work has attracted a wide, international audience with solo exhibitions at The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, MA (2008); The Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (2008-9); The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) (2009); and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2011), as well as being exhibited alongside major artists such as A. Balasubramaniam, Alexander Calder, Mona Hatoum, Eva Hesse, Sol Lewitt, Agnes Martin and Nasreen Mohamedi at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), NY (2010); Kiran Nadar Museum, New Delhi (2011, 2012, 2013), 5th Moscow Biennale (2013) 9th Lyon Biennial, France (2007); 8th Sharjah Biennial (2007); Wexner Center, OH (2005) and The Walker Art Center, MN (2003).