The recent Christie?s sale at New York had some thirty miniatures on sale. All the schools: Mughal, Rajasthani, Pahari, Sikh, Auadh and Deccani, were represented. But in keeping with our perception, they attracted far less attention than contemporary works of art. Only fourteen of them sold.
The work that went for the highest price was a Mughal miniature which shows Rustem fighting a serpent. It is stated to be a Lucknow copy of the 1780s of scenes from albums made for Shah Jehan and Jehangir a century earlier. It sold for $10,158, which works out to Rs 4.67 lakh, or Rs 690 per sq cm. It sold a price well above the $8,000 which was the maximum expected for it.
Not too far behind it was a Mewar painting of Maharana Sangram Singh II (1690-1734) painted around 1710-20. The work again sold above the price expected of it ($8,000), for $9,560 (Rs 4.40 lakh), which works out to Rs 676 per sq cm. Then a Mughal miniature of the seventeenth century, a couple in dalliance, sold for for $8,365 (Rs 3.85 lakh), which again was a little below the maximum price expected of it, working out to Rs 1,733 per sq cm.
Then there are two royal Mughal portraits, of Aurangzeb, of the early eighteenth century, and of his son, Azam Shah, of the same period, both of which sold at $7,170 each (Rs 3.3 lakh working out to Rs 1,176 per sq cm and Rs 1,277 per sq cm respectively.
What do we learn from these sales. The first thing is that the highest prices are paid for Mughal miniatures and not for the Rajasthani, Pahari or other ones. This is not surprising, for it is Mughal miniatures of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that are the most original. They are not illustrations of texts but independent narrative paintings in their own right. That is why they rank higher in price then the provincial schools that devolved from them which are both less well executed and often quite naive. Or they may even be copies of Mughal originals.
Secondly, the antiquity of the work counts as well. A seventeenth century Mughal original sells at Rs 1,733 per sq cm, while Royal portraits of a hundred years later, go for a good Rs 500 to Rs 600 per sq cm less and an eighteenth century Lucknow copy goes at Rs 690 per sq cm, at about 40% of the peak price paid for as original seventeenth century miniature.
Another element that does count is whether the miniature was painted from elements drawn on from life or not. That is why miniatures of Emperors that cannot be dated to their lifetime sell at lower prices than those of lesser known but identifiable figures whose portraits have less chances of being copied. That is why the Aurangzeb portrait sells for Rs 1,176 per sq cm when that of his son Azam Shah, of more or less the same time, sells at Rs 1,277 per sq cm.
The same phenomenon seems to behind the price differential we see in the two Mewar portraits of Maharana Sangram Singh II, the more expensive one being about a decade older than the second. The first work is priced at Rs 4.40 lakh (or Rs 676 per sq cm), the second is priced at Rs 2.2 lakh (or Rs 123 per sq cm). The cheaper work is much more colourful. What distinguishes the more expensive work is its life-like figures and details (like two salukis on leash in the forefront, bushes and the life-like posture of the attendants and the prince. The other work is clearly a more formalised one, and could even be a copy of the original painted after the death of the Maharana in 1734. So when pricing a miniature, the collector would do well to scour the work for details that reveal its being an original work drawn from life and not a copy. That is what gives it its value.
When buying Indian miniatures, collectors are advised to sift the Mughal ones from the others, with those of the ateliers of Jehangir being the most prized. Then the fact of their being painted from life or copies comes into play. And finally, how old they are. It is interesting, however, that both for contemporary and antique art, the element of closeness to life and originality are very important. Then execution and style come into play. And finally, rarity, antiquity and so on. This should not surprise us, as art is, in essence, about life. But even within this framework there is considerable variation with an unoriginal work selling at a fifth of the price of an original one.