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Multiple Artists
Lot 77 Details
A Distant View of India: Books, Maps, Prints and Photographs from the 17th to 20th Century 6-7 August 2025
Untitled [A Rare ...
Photographic and hand-coloured postcards, ...
View Dimensions Each approx. 5.5 x 3.75 in (13.8 x 8.9 cm)
Winning bid $3,034 Rs 2,64,000 (Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 45 Details
Spring Live Auction 13 March 2024
Untitled...
Various mediums on papers and supports
View Dimensions Variable sizes
Winning bid $108,000 Rs 88,56,000 (Inclusive of buyer's premium)
Lot 31 Details
REDiscovery: Auction of Art and Collectibles 17-18 January 2023
SET OF TWELVE...
a) Guillaume Severeyns after Henry...
View Dimensions b) AnonymousNew Varieties of Amaryllis 1. Nestor 2. SplendentChromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)c) After Henry George MoonNew Hybrid Sarracenias 1. S. Moorei. 2. S. PopeiCirca 1886Chromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)d) AnonymousVallota Purpurea Magnifica1871Chromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)e) AnonymousRosa Indica Var1887 Chromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)f) Guillaume Severeyns after Henry George MoonCyrtanthus SanguineusApril 12, 1890Chromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)g) AnonymousCyclamen.- 1. Vulcan.-2. ButterflySeptember 7, 1895Chromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)h) AnonymousGroup of CinerariasJuly 27, 1895Chromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)i) AnonymousRudbeckia PurpureaApril 29, 1893Chromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)j) AnonymousBuddleia ColvilleiJune 10, 1893Chromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)k) AnonymousGloxinias: SeedlingsMay 13, 1893Chromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)l) Anonymous1. Gladiolus Mrs Beecher. 2. G. Ben HurChromolithograph on paper10.75 x 8.25 in (27 x 21 cm)(Set of twelve)NON-EXPORTABLE
Winning bid $163 Rs 13,200 (Inclusive of buyer's premium)
Lot 24 Details
24-Hour Online Absolute Auction: Editions 25-26 July 2012
A Portfolio of...
Silkscreen on paper
View Dimensions a), e), j), l) and m) 10.5 x 14.5 in (each) b), c), d), f), g), h), i), k) and n) 14.5 x 10.5 in (each)
Winning bid $2,131 Rs 1,15,080 (Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 7 Details
Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan 10 November 2025
Untitled [Set of ...
a) M. & N. HanhartLanding...
View Dimensions b) M. & N. HanhartGroup on the Deck of the "Great Eastern" at Bombay Circa 1870s.Lithograph on paper4.3 x 6.6 in (11 x 17 cm)This tinted lithograph, printed by M. & N. Hanhart after a photograph, was issued in J.C. Parkinson’s The Ocean Telegraph to India (Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1870). It depicts a large assembly on the deck of Brunel’s SS Great Eastern at Bombay (now Mumbai) in January 1870, on the eve of laying the submarine cable between Bombay and Aden—the final link in the first direct telegraph line connecting Britain and India. The Great Eastern – an iron steamship designed by Isambard K. Brunel – had arrived in Bombay in January 1870 as part of the British-Indian submarine telegraph cable expedition.The scene records a rare group portrait of the expedition’s officers, engineers, and electricians, interspersed with local operatives, notably members of the Parsi telegraph staff, whose inclusion underscores the collaboration between British and Indian personnel in this landmark enterprise. Notably, this gathering took place during the layover of Great Eastern in Bombay Harbour (28 Jan – 14 Feb 1870) while the vessel was preparing to lay the undersea telegraph cable from Bombay to Aden. According to Joseph C. Parkinson – a journalist who documented the voyage – a photographer on board (Mr Lindley) arranged for these visitors for a portrait on deck. The resulting image (though posed rather stiffly, as Parkinson humorously notes) was used as the basis for this print. Coils of submarine cable, cable-handling machinery, and the immense superstructure of the Great Eastern provide a striking backdrop, anchoring the human subjects within the technological context of their achievement.The Bombay–Aden section of the Indo-European telegraph route was laid by the Great Eastern and completed in March 1870. For the first time, messages could pass between London and Bombay in minutes rather than months, transforming imperial communications. The present lithograph, based directly on a contemporary photograph, stands as both a documentary image and a commemorative artefact, capturing the human scale of a technological revolution that forever altered Bombay’s role as the communications hub of the Raj. The Bombay group portrait thus captures a celebratory moment of Victorian technological triumph and the diverse people involved in the cable’s landing.CONNECTING EMPIRES: THE GREAT EASTERN AND THE BOMBAY–ADEN TELEGRAPH EXPEDITION, 1870Issued in J.C. Parkinson’s The Ocean Telegraph to India (1870), these finely executed tinted lithographs by M. & N. Hanhart commemorate the successful completion of the submarine telegraph cable linking Bombay to Aden, and thence to Britain—a technological feat that forever transformed global communications.The plates, based on photographs taken during the 1869–70 expedition of the SS Great Eastern, document both the engineering triumphs and the human dimension of this enterprise. Landing the Shore End of the Bombay Cable at Aden captures the dramatic moment when the cable was hauled ashore under the gaze of British officers, Arab camel-drivers, and local onlookers, while Group on the Deck of the Great Eastern at Bombay presents a remarkable group portrait of the cable-laying expedition’s officers, engineers, electricians, and Parsi telegraph staff, framed against the machinery and immense bulk of Brunel’s ship.Together, these prints not only memorialise a defining Victorian engineering achievement but also foreground Bombay’s emergence as the nerve centre of imperial communications. They offer a rare visual record of a project that collapsed geographical distance, binding India and Britain by instantaneous contact, and reshaping Bombay’s role within the economic and political framework of the Raj.(Set of two)This work will be shipped unframed.NON-EXPORTABLEThis lot is offered at NO RESERVEThis lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each print.
Winning bid $136 Rs 12,000 (Inclusive of buyer's premium)
Untitled (Set of ...
a) The Cotton Boom and...
View Dimensions b) A Panoramic Prospect of Bombay from Malabar HillWood engraving on paper10.2 x 15.3 in (26 × 39 cm)Published in Illustrated London News, 1853This finely detailed wood-engraved panorama captures Bombay from the elevated vantage of Malabar Hill at a moment of profound transformation in the city’s history. Published in The Illustrated London News in 1853, it coincided with the inauguration of the first passenger railway in India (and in Asia) running from Bombay to Thane. The view reveals the land in a largely virgin state, poised on the brink of the rapid urban developments that would soon reshape it. South Bombay, a pincer-shaped landmass, extends with Malabar Hill at its northern tip and Colaba at its southern, while the characteristic ‘C’-shaped shoreline of Back Bay stretches between them. Against the rocky foreground of the hill, the wide sweep of the harbour is dotted with sailing craft, while the Fort precinct and outlying villages appear as a continuous whole, designed to appeal to the metropolitan eye of the British reader. Early panoramic views of Bombay from Malabar Hill were especially prized by European audiences for their blend of topographical accuracy and picturesque composition, and this example is among the most historically significant, marking the city’s entry into the railway age.c) A Street is BombayWood engraving on paper10.2 x 15.3 in (26 × 39 cm)Published in Illustrated London News, 20th November 1875This engraving presents a vivid scene of Bombay’s ‘Native Town’ in the mid-1870s, the bustling quarter located immediately north of the Fort precinct encompassing Bhuleshwar, Mumbadevi and Bhendi Bazaar. For more than a century, Bombay society had been structured around this binary of the European ‘Fort’ and the Indian ‘Native Town’. The removal of the Fort walls between 1861 and 1863 began to erase this physical and cultural divide, accelerating processes of urban assimilation and hybridisation. The view combines architectural density with human activity, emphasising the multiplicity of trades and communities that sustained the city’s mercantile identity. Today, such imagery provides valuable documentary evidence of Bombay’s urban morphology in the transitional decades between colonial segregation and the emergence of a more integrated city fabric.d) After William 'Crimea' SimpsonUnveiling the Bombay Statue of the Prince of Wales presented by Sir Albert SassoonWood engraving on paper8.4 x 7 in (21.5 x 18 cm)Published in Illustrated London News, 2nd August 1879This engraving records the ceremonial unveiling in 1879 of the equestrian statue of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), popularly known as the ‘Kala Ghoda’. Commissioned through the philanthropy of Albert Sassoon following the royal visit of 1875–76, the statue was sited at the northern end of the Fort near its dismantled walls. The work of colonial civic ritual and imperial iconography, the statue quickly acquired a colloquial identity, its local name giving rise to the designation of the Kala Ghoda district. The image captures the moment of public unveiling, with crowds and dignitaries assembled before the monumental bronze of 16.7-foot-tall, an enduring emblem of the layered histories of commemoration, patronage and urban memory in Bombay. Relocated in the 1960s to the Byculla Zoo gardens, the statue remains a landmark of colonial public art in the city. Another structure, titled the ‘Spirit of Kala Ghoda’, depicting a black, riderless horse, was reinstalled in the area in 2017.BOMBAY IN PRINT: FOUR ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS VIEWS OF THE COLONIAL METROPOLIS, 1853–1879This group of four Illustrated London News engravings offers a compelling visual chronicle of Bombay’s evolution during the mid-nineteenth century—from a mercantile port on the cusp of industrial transformation to a fully articulated colonial metropolis. Each image captures a defining episode in the city’s journey through the intertwined forces of commerce, urban growth, and imperial spectacle.The 1853 Panoramic Prospect of Bombay from Malabar Hill marks the dawn of the railway age, presenting a sweeping topographical view of a city poised between natural landscape and emergent infrastructure. Two decades later, A Street in Bombay (1875) reveals the dense vitality of the “Native Town”, a site of convergence between communities and trades as colonial boundaries between Fort and suburb dissolved. The 1865 Cotton Boom and Collapse: The Oriental Bank and Share Market, Bombay portrays the feverish optimism and ensuing ruin of the speculative cotton economy, dramatising the city’s entanglement in global financial networks born of the American Civil War. Completing the sequence, The Unveiling of the Prince of Wales Statue (1879), after William ‘Crimea’ Simpson, captures Bombay’s ceremonial role as an imperial stage, where philanthropy, public art, and civic ritual intertwined in the making of urban identity.Viewed together, these engravings trace Bombay’s metamorphosis from topographical curiosity to imperial capital, shaped by the energies of trade, speculation, civic expansion, and colonial commemoration. As visual reportage disseminated to a British readership, they encapsulate both the dynamism and contradictions of Victorian Bombay—its aspirations, excesses, and enduring allure within the imagination of empire.(Set of four)This work will be shipped unframed.NON-EXPORTABLEThis lot is offered at NO RESERVEThis lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each print.
Winning bid $205 Rs 18,000 (Inclusive of buyer's premium)
Lot 25 Details
a) Bombay1834Steel...
View Dimensions b) Thomas AllomBombayPublished 1858 (after a drawing c.1830)Steel engraving on paper6 x 9 in (15.2 x 22.8 cm)This atmospheric engraving presents a view of Bombay from Mazagon Hill, sketched originally by Thomas Allom in the 1830s and published shortly after the transfer of power from the East India Company to the Crown in 1858. In the foreground, seated figures occupy the steep slope of Mazagon Hill, gazing towards the Fort of Bombay, which is here depicted with exaggerated scale and proximity. The vista encompasses the harbour, outlying settlements, and shipping activity, aligning with Allom’s characteristic topographical romanticism. Published at the threshold of a new political era following the Uprising of 1857, this image of Bombay balances picturesque embellishment with documentary detail, providing a rare visual bridge between the Company’s mercantile dominance and the Crown’s imperial stewardship.The text under the image reads “Aus der Kunstanst des Bibl. Inst. in Hildburghausen” (From the art institute of the Bibl. Inst. In Hildburghausen) and “Eigenthum der Verleger” (Property of the publisher). c) Panorama of Bombay (from Sketches made on the Spot)Wood engraving on paper13.9 x 9.4 in (35.5 × 24 cm)Published in The Pictorial Times, 11 January 1845A rare 270-degree panorama of Bombay published in The Pictorial Times in 1845, this expansive view sweeps from Colaba Island across the eastern shoreline to Elephanta Island in the far distance. The panorama not only captures the breadth of the city’s geographical setting but is accompanied by editorial commentary on the impact of steam navigation, which had dramatically shortened travel times and transformed patterns of global trade. The timing of its publication is significant: The Pictorial Times was a short-lived competitor to The Illustrated London News, closing within five years, making such engravings comparatively scarce. As one of the earliest panoramic depictions of the island city to reach a European readership, the print highlights both the strategic harbour and the emergent role of Bombay as a key imperial entrepôt.BOMBAY IN PANORAMA: ROMANTIC VISIONS AND IMPERIAL PROSPECTS, 1834–1858These three panoramic prints spanning two decades present Bombay as both a romantic ideal and an imperial port. With sweeping vistas from Mazagon Hill and an expansive harbour panorama, they reflect European imaginings of the city at the dawn of steam navigation and the transition from Company to Crown rule.(Set of three)This work will be shipped unframed.NON-EXPORTABLEThis lot is offered at NO RESERVEThis lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each print.
Winning bid $164 Rs 14,400 (Inclusive of buyer's premium)
Lot 26 Details
a) The Prince’s Dock, Bombay –...
View Dimensions d) The Prince’s Dock, Bombay – Industrial Expansion of the HarbourWood engraving on paper9.2 x 13.7 in (23.5 x 35 cm)Published in The Engineer, 8 August 1879A second engraving of Prince’s Dock from The Engineer, capturing the layout of the new tidal basin and associated warehousing. By the late 1870s, Bombay had firmly established itself as the principal port of western India, handling not only cotton but also opium, grain, and manufactured imports. The print serves as a documentary record of this infrastructural leap, when engineering ambition reshaped Bombay’s coastline to accommodate global trade.e) Plan of the Sun Cotton Mill, BombayWood engraving on paper13.7 x 9.2 in (35 × 23.5 cm)Published in The Engineer, 3 April 1891This engraving presents the plan and layout of the Sun Cotton Mill, one of the many textile mills that proliferated in Bombay during the late 19th century. By 1891, the city had emerged as the epicentre of India’s textile industry, earning the sobriquet “Manchester of the East.” The plate provides not only a technical record of mill architecture and machinery but also an emblem of the industrial energy that underpinned Bombay’s economy and social transformation.f) The Prince’s Dock, Bombay – Alternative PerspectiveWood engraving on paper13.7 x 9.2 in (35 × 23.5 cm)Published in The Engineer, 8 August 1879The third of the Prince’s Dock engravings, this plate provides an alternative angle of the newly opened facility, emphasising its role as a symbol of Bombay’s maritime ascendancy. By offering multiple visual perspectives, The Engineer underscored the significance of the project not merely for the city but for imperial shipping at large. The dock, still in use today, was an early foundation of the port complex that grew into one of Asia’s busiest.g) Interior Arrangement of the Sun Cotton Mill, BombayWood engraving on paper13.7 x 9.2 in (35 × 23.5 cm)Published in The Engineer, 3 April 1891A companion plate, this engraving illustrates the internal arrangement of the Sun Cotton Mill. Rows of looms and mechanised spinning frames reflect the industrial logic of efficiency and mass production that powered Bombay’s cotton industry in the late Victorian period. Together, the two plates provide rare visual testimony to the technological and architectural organisation of the city’s textile mills, which shaped both its economy and its labour history.ENGINES OF PROGRESS: DOCKS, MILLS AND INDUSTRIAL BOMBAY, 1879–1891This group of seven technical engravings from The Engineer charts Bombay’s emergence as one of the British Empire’s foremost industrial and maritime hubs. Issued between 1879 and 1891, they document the creation of the Prince’s Dock—the first modern tidal dock of the city—alongside pioneering hydraulic ship-lifting facilities at Nhava Sheva and the layouts of the Sun Cotton Mill, emblematic of Bombay’s textile ascendancy.Together, these prints reveal the interplay between engineering innovation, maritime infrastructure, and industrial capitalism that transformed the city in the late Victorian period. Hydraulic docks enabled the repair of oceangoing vessels with unprecedented efficiency; Prince’s Dock reshaped the eastern seaboard for global trade; and the cotton mills established Bombay as the “Manchester of the East”. As a collective, the engravings embody the technological ambition and industrial identity that underpinned the city’s rise to prominence on the world stage.(Set of seven)This work will be shipped unframed.NON-EXPORTABLEThis lot is offered at NO RESERVEThis lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each book.
Winning bid $61 Rs 5,400 (Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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