The Saffronart.com online sale that took place between December 1 and 4 is important for a number of reasons. It allows us to make an assessment of the market. Secondly, it gives us an idea of how the pricing reflects reality, and finally, artists and their place in the investment roster.

As regards the first, we find that 37 of the 110 lots failed to sell. Of these, 29 belonged to well-known artists with two works or more in the sale. But, as a whole, the figures show that two out of three works up for sale actually sold. This, given that it is a time of buoyancy for the share market, reflects the fact that the art market also has its own momentum that can sustain it as investment.

As regards pricing, we find that 16 of the works that sold, went below the expected price. On the other hand, we find that 18 works sold above the highest price expected. As a result, one can conclude that the pricing was, by and large, correct. Gallery owners can use these auction figures to reset prices of works in their stock and also in relation to fixing prices for buying new works.

Old Houses: Watercolour & ink on paper by Badri Narayan

As usual, MF Husain, with 12 works up for sale, scored over-the-top sale prices in five works, the highest being Rs 17.08 lakh (lot 10, an oil on canvas of the 1960?s which is 111.8 cm x 66 cm) depicting the conflict between the past and the future. It is interesting that a much later work of his, a painting of Mother Theresa failed to go at between Rs 26 and Rs 30 lakh. The work, an excellent composition and being auctioned around the time of Mother Theresa being canonised, reflects two things. One, that as the older works of famous artists often reflect much more depth than later works, they command relatively higher prices. This holds true for the majority of our first-rank artists and not just Husain. Investors who buy older works of well-known artists in the secondary market are generally investing well.

The other works of his that sold over the top were lot 8 (an oil on canvas head 50.8 cm x 48.3cm that sold for Rs 5.17 lakh) lot 11 (a Ganesh oil on canvas, 50.8 cm x 43.2 cm that sold for Rs 6.23 lakh) lot 14 (a water-colour on paper horse, 26.7 cm x 36.8 cm that sold for Rs 1.89 lakh) and lot 16, an acrylic on paper of Vyasa and Ganesha, 77.5 cm x 57.2 cm that sold for Rs 7.70 lakh approximately). With four works remaining unsold, four selling above the highest price expected and four selling within the range, one can say Husain maintains his blue-chip position as firmly as ever.

On the other hand, the performance of Ganesh Pyne was below par. There were three lots up for sale. A mixed media head on paper, lot 65 (34.5 cm x 33 cm priced between Rs 4.05 lakh and Rs 4.95 lakh), lot 66, a tempera on canvas of a boy playing the flute (57.2 cm x 47 cm, at Rs 7.50 to Rs 9.50 lakh) and lot 67, a man carrying a load (a mixed media on paper, 39.6 cm x 32 cm) priced at between Rs 4.25 lakh and Rs 7.23 lakh. The head and the figure are extraordinary works, but the prices asked for are a little on the higher side. This has done a great disservice to one of our best artists who has also made the mistake of letting less-than-perfect works to enter the market.

Souza?s work has done predictably well. Of his six works up for sale, three failed to sell, but two sold above the highest price expected and one sold within the range. Another artist whose sales could be predicted was Bhupen Khakhar, who had three works up or sale, two of which sold above the expected price and one within the range. Another artist who made a sale thanks to the cult of Bhupen Khakhar was Krishen Khanna, whose painting ?Canonisation of a painter,? showing Bhupen, Husain, Tyeb Mehta and Bal Chabda, with an Angel holding a halo above Bhupen, went for over Rs 1.81 lakh while his other work failed to sell.

Other artists, like Badri Narayan, Paramjit Singh, Atul Dodiya, Shibu Natesan, TV Santosh and Jitesh Kallat also went over the top in the case of individual works, but to me, this appears to be more because their works were undervalued. The other perennials ? like Anjolie Ela Menon, Ram Kumar and Akbar Padamsee ? did well enough. That too was expected. The Saffronart online auction reflects a retreat from the big art boom of the 1980s and 1990s but we are nowhere near its end. Its cult figures are still doing well enough. Their works have stabilised as art investment and can be expected to rise in price in the long run. So, our contemporary art can be said to be doing fine, especially with the NRIs backing it as they have done this time. There is still considerable space to be captured; but our good artists should try to resist the temptation to cash in on a good market with almost anything that they happen to have in hand. This is the main lesson we learn from the online auction of saffronart.com this time.