Nirav Modi’s art collection to go under the hammer on March 26

NEW DELHI: That diamantaire Nirav Modi likes to live the high life even as a fugitive was evident from a recent viral video that showed him walking around London in the now infamous Rs 9-lakh ostrich leather jacket. Before he fled India, the jeweller had built himself quite the reputation as an art connoisseur, often posing for the media with his collection of masters as a backdrop. Now, the enviable art collection he built as a status symbol is going under the hammer in Mumbai on March 26. In a first, the income-tax department has engaged the services of Saffronart, a professional auction house, to sell 68 works that include works by some of India’s priciest artists such as V S Gaitonde, Akbar Padamsee and Raja Ravi Varma.

A Saffronart representative said the artworks had been put up for sale on behalf of the government of India through the tax recovery officer, income tax department, Central-3, Mumbai. A proclamation of sale issued by the I-T department showed that the auction was aiming to recover Rs 96-crore dues from Camelot Enterprises, a shell company set up by Modi. Saffronart has set the approximate estimate value for the auction at Rs 30-50 crore though it remains to be seen how much the collection will go finally go for.

Dinesh Vazirani, Saffronart CEO and co-founder, said they were appointed as official auctioneer after a selection process. “The auction includes some of the most eminent names in modern and contemporary Indian art with a historically important work by Raja Ravi Varma being one of the highlights of the live sale,” said Vazirani.

Ravi Varma is known for intricately detailed portraits of the rich and the royal. This particular work shows the Maharaja of Travancore and his younger brother welcoming Richard Temple-Grenville, third Duke of Buckingham, on his official visit to Trivandrum, and is estimated to sell in the Rs 12-18 crore range.

Besides works by noted contemporary artists such as Jitish Kallat, Rameshwar Broota, Atul Dodiya, Rekha Rodwittiya, and more, Modi’s collection also includes five works by Chinese artists ranging from detailed ink works to sculptural digital paintings.