The fall sale of the Indian Art exhibition, beginning Sep 14, will feature 21 lots of Indian miniatures from a private single-owner collection. The miniatures, from the Punjab Hills schools, include a series of illustrations from the 'Sunder Shringar', circa 1780, featuring Radha and Krishna (estimated at $10,000-15,000 each) and paintings from the 'Harivamsa' or life of Krishna, circa 1820 (estimated at $10,000-15,000 each).

Highlighting the section of Modern Paintings is a magnificent dark-toned work by Francis Newton Souza titled 'Man with Monstrance 2', an oil-on-board dating to 1953 (estimated at $500,000-700,000). Painted in textured dark tones, it deals with the conflict between religion and sex, a pervasive theme in Souza's work.

Also included in the sale are a number of works by abstract landscapist Ram Kumar, a leading figure in the modern art movement in India. Among them is an unusually rare untitled work from 1956 (estimated $120,000-180,000) belonging to the artist's early figurative phase.

Painted in glowing colours in a semi-Cubist manner, the canvas depicting two forlorn figures against a bleak cityscape is a sensitive commentary on the disillusionment of the faceless millions of urbanites with poverty and decay of post-Independence India.

The sale also features works by other leading modern artists such as M.F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, S.H. Raza, J. Swaminathan and Zen master V.S. Gaitonde, and is expected to bring $8.6-12.1 million.

On Sep 22, Sotheby's will hold its first dedicated sale of Indian Contemporary Art, featuring 58 lots by young cutting-edge artists in a variety of media, including works by Atul Dodiya, Anju Dodiya, Jitish Kallat, Subodh Gupta, Riyas Komu, Shibu Natesan and Bharti Kher.

The cover lot of the sale is Atul Dodiya's 'Mirage', an installation from his famous 'Shutter' series of 2002 ($180,000-220,000). Another highlight of the sale is Ravinder G. Reddy's iconic Head, a gold-gilded work painted on polyester resin fibre glass (estimated $100,000-150,000).

Sudarshan Shetty creates a surreal combination of familiar forms in unexpected ways in his untitled sculpture from the 'Paper Moon' series, which consists of a life-size horse standing aside a small boat with a diminutive house on its back ($60,000-80,000).

Another notable piece is 'Feast for Hundred and Eight Gods' (2005), a sculpture by Subodh Gupta that uses stainless steel utensils and is the first of an edition of three (estimated $40,000-60,000). The sale is expected to bring $1.1-1.5 million.

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