Auction special: Sold!

People of a certain vintage, those who enjoy bouts of wistfulness, or some of us who simply love being in the midst of objets d’art are going to love every minute of Pundole’s auction of the fine and decorative arts on the 26th and 27th August at the NCPA.

Louis Vuitton trunks

This is the fifth such auction Pundole is holding in the decorative and fine arts category, so while I am seized by nostalgia when I walk into the gallery, where an assortment of trunks—some Louis Vuitton, some gorgeously leather-clad—are awaiting the knock of a hammer to be dispatched to their new home, Dadiba Pundole is naturally a man to the manor born. I am encouraged to look around the gallery. In another room there’s a toss up for my attention between a couple of Surajmukhi (. sun-burst) cabinets, and an art deco sofa suite. Nearby, sitting pretty in a row are 16 silver Chaupar pieces and shining on them brightly are two magnificent Venetian glass hanging lights. You get the drift; you’re stepping into an era when brilliant craftsmanship, design and objects of beauty were what everyone lived with in their daily lives. Today this is luxury.

A Francoise Raoul Larche Art Nouveau giltbronze lamp depicting a swirling dancer.

Among the 272 pieces to be auctioned are stunning art deco decanters with matching glasses. There are also beautiful lamps in brass, alabaster and glass, and the piece deresistance, also Dadiba Pundole’s favourite–a Francoise Raoul Larche Art Nouveau giltbronze lamp depicting a swirling dancer. There’s silverware, of which one stands out: an English hallmarked silver hunting trophy detailed with a boar’s snout sticking out saucily, while its feet hold the base of the trophy. An intricately carved silver and wood shrine with a temple swing to match, occupies a large part of the room. This comes from the estate of the late Dr Moti Chandra, who served as a Director of the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, in Mumbai, for over 30 years.

All of these pieces, whether they are a collection of hand-coloured aquatints or volumes of texts, or lacquered oriental decorative pieces, come with their individual stories, too many to recount. So how are these objects sourced? “Largely through word of mouth,” says Pundole, recounting the first time he was asked to auction the late Jamshed Bhabha’s collection of decorative arts. “And that opened up another dimension for us. We had the confidence to auction such pieces. The next time we did it was when Laura Hamilton of Malabar Boutique, a lady of fine taste willed us to auction the pieces from her estate”. The current collection comes from various sources. Some of the silver here is from two to three princely families, some prefer to stay anonymous. There are pieces from the property of the late Noshir Nanporia, once editor of The Times of India. Why auction when fine pieces such as these can easily command the price one wants? “Auctions have their own psychology. One expects the best prices for these objects, of course,” says Pundole, “but a lot of it depends on how badly you want that particular piece and how high you’re prepared to bid for it. Things go strange at auctions”. He recounts when a stone Ganesha didn’t do as well as expected at an auction, but the next day, there were people asking for the piece, saying they weren’t paying attention when it went under the hammer, and could they please buy it off the bidder? Another time, he was told that the base price of a piece at his auction was very high and it wouldn’t do well at all. “I had researched the piece and placed what I thought was a conservative price on it, but when I was told I was pricing it too high, I took my chances. The piece went off for way higher than expected. So you see, you just don’t know how these objects do and why.”All the more reason to be at the NCPA for the auction. 

From Venetian glass lights to an antique temple swing, Dadiba Pundole talks to Amy Fernandes about some stunning pieces of decorative arts going under the hammer