Saffronart's 10th Anniversary Year Off to a Strong Start

NEW YORK, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Saffronart, the world's largest online fine-art auction house, concluded its Spring Online Auction 2010 on an impressive note with 75% of the lots selling for a total of USD 4.6 million. A majority of the lots saw competitive bidding with 60% of the sold lots exceeding their high estimates.

Several lots were sold well past their high estimates, including Akbar Padamsee's 1953 portrait, Prophet (with a winning bid of USD 278,875, more than triple its higher estimate USD 80,000), M.F. Husain's 1970s Untitled (whose winning bid crossed the USD 400,000 mark, with a high estimate of USD 266,670), Subodh Gupta's Doot (which sold for USD 391,000, against a high estimate of USD 240,000) and F.N. Souza's Decomposing Head (which sold for USD 350,750, exceeding its high estimate of USD 250,000). Works by S.H. Raza, Manjit Bawa, Ram Kumar, Laxma Goud and Jagdish Swaminathan also attracted lively bidding. There was also keen interest from collectors in works of several contemporary artists including Shibu Natesan, Sudarshan Shetty and Rajesh Ram.

Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and Co-founder of Saffronart said, "The strong results of our Spring Online Auction 2010 are an affirmation of the renewed confidence of the growing collector base for Indian art. The results from the auction indicate a consistent demand from collectors for top quality and rare works with important provenance."

About Saffronart

A global company with deep Indian roots, Saffronart was founded in 2000 on the strength of a private passion. Remaining committed to this passion and personal values, today Saffronart is a strong and successful international business that both embraces and drives change.

A pioneer of online fine art auctions, Saffronart has set global pricing benchmarks and transformed the landscape of modern and contemporary Indian art, making it accessible to connoisseurs and collectors around the world. Its robust online auction platform and secure technology offers a personal, intuitive and effortless bidding and buying experience for clients.

For further details on the auction, please contact:

USA: Robin Davis, The Townsend Group

Tel: (203) 622 1334 or Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Saffronart