Roseberys’ Antiquities, Islamic & Indian Arts Auction on Friday 2 May was led by the sale of an unusual cat painting from the collection of Francis Golding, the influential architectural consultant who helped shape London’s contemporary skyline. The painting soared fourteen times over its estimate of £1,000–£1,500, realising a price of £20,995. Following fierce phone bidding between three bidders, it was sold to a private museum in India.
Lot 334: A painting of a striped cat grooming, Basohli, Rajasthan, north India, circa 1730
The Golding Collection, comprising 41 lots, achieved an 80% sell-through rate and a hammer total of £56,320. Golding’s architectural interest in drawings and preparatory sketches is reflected in his collecting habits. The works in the sale, mostly drawings and works on paper, were acquired with advice from his close friend, the celebrated painter and Indian art collector Sir Howard Hodgkin.
The painting depicts a cat curled upon itself, grooming the thigh of its left hind leg, with its tail extending upwards, set against a vibrant green wash of paint. The textured brushwork and red borders are characteristic of the Basohli School of painting, as is the assertive and bold approach of depiction in profile. However, the subject matter is highly unusual; cats are rarely depicted in Indian painting generally, and even less so in the Basohli canon, which typically favours epic scenes, ragamalas, and depictions of local rulers. The flat plane of colour in the background, with no architectural or landscape elements, is another anomaly. Additionally, the square format with a circular composition at its centre is a layout typically reserved for ragamala paintings, making this work a particularly curious and rare departure from the conventions of the Basohli School.
Lot 340: A bust portrait of a courtesan smoking a waterpipe (huqqa),Jaipur, India, circa 1875
Other highlights from the Golding Collection include a 19th-century bust portrait sketch of a courtesan smoking a huqqa, which sold for £5,773 against a £700–£900 estimate, and a circa-1800 sketch of a dancing courtesan, which sold for £3,674 (high estimate £800). Animalia proved popular, with a Company School painting of a frog selling for £4,198 against a £2,000–£3,000 estimate.
Lot 318: A Company school painting of a frog, India, circa 1800
“It was a privilege to present the collection of Francis Golding at Roseberys for the first time,” said Alice Bailey, Director & Head of Antiquities, Islamic & Indian Arts. “Golding had an extraordinary eye for the unusual and the refined, and this was reflected in the strength of interest from new private collectors, established dealers and institutions. Throughout the auction saw strong bidder interest in exceptional works on paper, demonstrating the decorative and scholarly merit of the media.”
Beyond the Golding Collection, works on paper performed strongly. A Mughal illustrated folio from a Razmnama (c.1598) sold for £20,992 against a £1,000–£1,500 estimate, going to a private Indian buyer.
A manuscript with distinctive marbled paper borders, likely the first translation of Voltaire into Persian, realised £18,368 against a £4,000–£6,000 estimate. These marbled borders are exceptionally rare - only one other known example exists, a translation of Tarikh-i Iskandar (The History of Alexander the Great), copied in Kabul by the same scribe, Ibn Muhammad Khan Safdar 'Ali, in 1874 AD. A preface reference links the two manuscripts, indicating both were commissioned by the same patron. While The History of Alexander was produced in Kabul, this manuscript was created in Iran, suggesting the patron was a Qajar figure of considerable status, with a retinue including a dedicated calligrapher.
Finally, a work by prominent Sudanese artist and intellectual Hussein Shariffe (1934-2005) realised a price of £9,184 against an estimate of £3,000 - £4,000. The untitled oil on canvas bears a label for ‘Gallery One,’ the UK Gallery in which he had his first solo exhibition in 1958.
Arts of India: Tuesday 10 June
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