India

Sotheby’s will open an office in Mumbai, as they bid to expand their Indian businesses with two ‘strategic’ appointments in the region.

WHEN bidders turned up at the first Indian Premier League cricket player auction in Mumbai last month, it was an antiques auctioneer from England they found on the rostrum.

THE new year will see a new auction house open in India – with a wide remit to develop the domestic and international markets.

Bowrings, India’s only specialist fine art auction house, is to close after just two years of business to allow for lengthy court proceedings against the Indian government. The auctioneers have filed a writ against the Indian Ministry of Culture’s regulatory body ASI (Archeological Survey of India) and the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) disputing the demand that they need a licence to operate and sell antiquities.

KAARU is a design-led developmental initiative from India which has already achieved much in sustaining the sub-continent’s rich but threatened traditional arts and crafts.

CHRISTOPHER Elwes, former managing director of Bonhams, and Indian art expert Patrick Bowring have broken new ground by opening India’s only specialist fine art auction house. They will hold their first sale in Delhi on November 5 and aim to create a network of offices to service the Indian market.