However, Sotheby's managed to cut what would have been very visible losses by bringing in non-resident Pakistanis and Sri Lankans into the field. They included the Pakistani artist, A R Chughtai, with some success, as well as introducing others like Allah Buksh, Mian Ijaz-ul-Hassan, Ahmed Parvez, Khalid Iqbal,Gulgee and Shahid Jalal. Similarly, both Ivan Peries and George Keyt, from among the Sri Lankan artists, did well, making this a worthwhile manoeuvre for the auction house. One wonders why they did not include Bangladesh artists like Zainul Abedin and Shihabuddin. Their works would have raised the tone of the auction, as then a member of the `drawing room' artists could have been excluded. It would also have been better in terms of prices, for interior decorators' art sells, but at a very low price indeed.

Whatever the merits and demerits of each auction, the Pakistani or British buyers of Pakistani origin, appear to have bid heavily for the paintings of A R Chughtai, and though the highest priced was his Radha and Krishna that went for over Rs 24 lakh, bought by an Indian NRI, the highest price per sq cm, Rs 681.63, was paid for a work entitled Returning from the Dargah, which sold for over Rs 20 lakh. Similarly, a painting of an apple-seller of Swat, sold at above Rs 20 lakh, fetching Rs 630.5 per sq. cm,while the Krishna painting fetched only Rs 619.33 per sq. cm. Therefore, one can conclude that Chughtai has attracted new buyers from across our western borders and the ploy of broadening the base of our contemporary art sales paid off. In future, the lesser Indian artists can expect to face more competition so their work will have to be that much better if they wish to be priced above the drawing room variety.

This competition is likely to emerge both from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Already artists like George Keyt have collectors both in India and abroad; but it was the sales of Ivan Peries that catch the eye. His Two Figures under the Moon fetched over Rs 6 lakh, some Rs 165.3 per sq. cm, while his Woman Within an Oval fetched Rs 4 lakh. This is a very good record for contemporary Sri Lankan art, which appears to be beginning a successful global career.

As far as Indian art is concerned, of the artists who had more than 10 works each up for sale, Ganesh Pyne was the most successful, with eight of the 10works being sold. Jamini Roy followed with 10 out of 15 sold, while M F Husain sold only six out of the 13 up for sale. But then, all of his works went above the Rs 1 lakh mark, with two being above Rs 6 lakh. The highest price was fetched by a tribal study of his that sold for Rs 8.8 lakh (about Rs 138 per sq. cm). But in terms of the per sq cm price, Ganesh Pyne soars above other Indian artists. A tempera of his fetched Rs 2,600 per sq cm , while drawings of his varied between Rs 112.71 per sq. cm to Rs 342.93 per sq. cm, depending on the medium used and the complexity of the work.

Jamini Roy fetched an average of Rs 99.51 per sq. cm and Husain Rs 88.27 per sq. cm. The single work of Gaganendranath Tagore that sold went for Rs 6.4 lakh, fetching Rs 677.39 per sq. cm. This is close to the higher side of what Chughtai fetched. A number of works of Nandalal Bose also did not sell, but that is probably because Bengal School works tend to be very highly priced and their authenticity is problematic because themasters often signed their pupils' good work as a mark of appreciation. Therefore much more effort goes into correctly buying such works, for those with an impeccable provenance seldom come up for sale. Also they are not the bargain basement kind of stuff canny investors are on the lookout for. Still even if we look at works of Chughtai, the Bengal school reigns supreme, and close on its heels the independent folk expression of the peasantry that not only defeated colonial rule but has also checkmated attempts to globalise our visual expression along the lines the West would want us to develop. And the Western auction houses have learnt that.