In its modern and contemporary art auction last week, Mumbai–based auction house Saffronart achieved sales of $6.7 million on an 81-percent sell-through rate by lot. Many artist records were set in the sale, with 53 percent of the lots going for above their estimates.

The sale included 90 works by 45 Indian painters, including S. H. Raza, F. N. Souza, M H. Husain, and Jehangir Sabavala. Raza's La Provence Noire, a large-scale monochromatic abstract landscape painting was the most expensive lot in the auction, selling for $746,111.

A landscape by modern master Jehangir Sabavala titled Casuarina Line I, which depicts the nighttime view of a sandy peninsula surrounded by blue and green water, earned $374,900, the highest price ever paid for one of his works at auction. Known for blending Impressionist and Cubist influences, he studied at prestigious art academies in London and Paris in the 1950s, and then began his career with a solo show at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai.

The sale was also significant as it saw strong bidding from people using mobile bidding applications. Ten works on offer were sold to registered iPhone and Blackberry bidders, achieving a total of $934,000. An untitled work by M.F. Husain — a portrait of a bejeweled aboriginal Indian girl gazing out at the viewer — sold for $77,625, the highest price that was achieved through mobile bidding.

“This season also witnessed a number of new registrations and bidders, thus engaging a wider group of collectors,” MinalVazirani, director of the auction house, said in a statement. “We believe this collector base will continue to grow in the art market’s new growth phase."