Tyeb Mehta...

There are nine other cities on that list, including London, New York and Hong Kong.

It wasn’t just fine art on the block. Architectural drawings of the Iim-ahmedabad building by the American architect Louis Kahn; a mid-20th century lounge sofa set and a periodicals bookcase by Pierre Jeanneret; a 1948 photograph of Srinagar by Henri Cartier-bresson; photos by Steve Mccurry; and Nargis Wadia’s Air India advertisement posters from the 1950s were auctioned amid the FN Souza and SH Raza paintings.

The two Air India posters, incidentally, caused an unexpected flurry. They were expected to fetch about Rs 90,000 but eventually went for over Rs 10 lakh following a fierce bout of bidding. Eleven lots remained unsold by the end of the evening, and one lot was withdrawn, but total sales for the evening amounted to Rs 55.4 crore, which put Sotheby’s somewhere in the upper middle of their hoped-for range of Rs 43.1 crore to Rs 62.9 crore.

Despite the air of excitement and anticipation in the room, some bidders said they felt the range of Modernists represented was not as wide as they had expected for an inaugural Sotheby’s event. “There are too many Husains and Razas. I expected a more varied mix of genres and artists. What was different was the Air India posters,” said Vivek Matthai, a food and beverage consultant who was among the bidders.

A handful of young buyers were bidding too, but left without buying.

“Most young collectors go to exhibitions and galleries to buy,” said Saloni Doshi, 39, an entrepreneur who was in the group. “Prices and levies are too high at auctions.”

DESPITE THE AIR OF EXCITEMENT AND ANTICIPATION IN THE ROOM, SOME BIDDERS SAID THEY FELT THE RANGE OF MODERNISTS REPRESENTED WAS NOT AS WIDE AS THEY HAD EXPECTED FOR AN INAUGURAL SOTHEBY’S EVENT