Indian & Himalayan Art

Sotheby’s pioneered the field of Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art, establishing the first dedicated department in this category in New York in 1985.

Sotheby’s has conducted numerous notable sales and offered renowned single-owner collections of Indian paintings including: Indian Miniature Paintings from the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, The British Rail Pension Fund Collection, the Bachofen von Echt Collection, the Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck Collection, the Collection of Paul F. Walter, and the Stuart Cary Welch Collection.

The department’s expertise and scholarship in the field of Himalayan Art is second to none, with internal specialists equipped to translate Tibetan and Chinese inscriptions, in addition to ample resources for translating Newari, Nepali, and relevant Indian languages. Notable collections sold in this category include The Pan-Asian Collection (Christian Humann), The Jucker Collection of Himalayan Paintings, The Speelman Collection of Important Early Ming Buddhist Bronzes, The Collection of Tuyet Nguyet and Stephen Markbreiter, the Richard R. and Magdalena Ernst Collection and, most recently, The Nyingjei Lam Collection.

The department handles works ranging in date from the first century CE to the 19th century heyday of the British Raj and the Qing period, during which many Tantric Buddhist artworks were produced. The cultures and continents covered in our sales include a wide geographic swathe stretching from Afghanistan to Indonesia and from Mongolia to Sri Lanka. Our seasoned team of experts is based in London and New York, and works closely with key regional offices worldwide to source and sell the finest works to a global clientele spread across the US, Europe, the Middle East, India, China and Southeast Asia.