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An art connoisseur sitting in his office and tapping away on the keys of his mobile outbid hundreds of collectors across the globe to pick up Indian artist Tyeb Mehta's untitled canvas (Kali) for Rs 5.72 crore a few weeks ago, in what is claimed to be the highest bid for art placed on a mobile platform.
In the same month, India's biggest online art auctioneer, Saffronart, notched up Rs 17.20 crore in just two days of auction. At one particular auction before the recession, the company did a business of a whopping Rs 60 crore in two days.
Clearly, of late both Indian art and online auctioneers are coming out with flying colours, as art auctions on the Internet gain rapid strides. And providing the business easel for the domestic auctioneers is the increasing mobile penetration – mobile bids account for nearly 20 per cent of the online bids today.
The Indian art auction market has surged from about $3 million in 2000 to about $250 million now. Online business accounts for nearly 25 per cent of this. “We used to do a business of Rs 5 crore about 10 years ago, while today we are clocking between Rs 150 crore and Rs 200 crore through four auctions annually,” says Dinesh Vazirani, Director and co-founder of Saffronart.
Led by Saffronart, a string of new players, such as Astaguru, are competing with established veterans such as Christie's and Sotheby's in the domestic online auction market. The auctioneers are also broadening their canvas by increasing their offerings in the collectible items category, such as rare Indian books and antiques. Saffronart, for the first time, will be hosting a 24-hour auction of Indian sculptures and installations on August 24.
This comprises 45 lots, ranging from Himmat Shah's bronze work, Man on Moon, with a starting price of between Rs 3 and Rs 4 lakh, to Chintan Upadhyay's untitled fibre glass work with a tag of between Rs 4 and Rs 5 lakh.
“We have already introduced Indian jewellery in our offerings and will be adding other collectible items to our online auctions,” Mr Vazirani said.
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