The Mughal Masterpiece: How a £10.2m Cheetah Signals a Renaissance for Indian Art 

The recent landmark auction of the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan collection at Christie’s London, which shattered records by realizing £45.8 million, signifies a profound renaissance and maturation of the South Asian art market, catapulted by the historic £10.2 million sale of Basawan’s 16th-century Mughal miniature, A Family of Cheetahs, which itself symbolizes a pivotal moment of artistic fusion under Emperor Akbar.

This spectacular result, far exceeding estimates, was driven by the emergence of a new generation of Indian collectors who, after first engaging with modern masters, are now investing deeply in their classical heritage, while the unparalleled quality and provenance of the Aga Khan collection—assembled during a unique post-war period of availability—provided the exceptional supply needed to catalyze this market shift and firmly establish classical Indian art as a major global asset.

The Mughal Masterpiece: How a £10.2m Cheetah Signals a Renaissance for Indian Art 

In the hushed, anticipatory room at Christie’s London, a piece of parchment no larger than a standard sheet of paper silenced the crowd. It was Basawan’s A Family of Cheetahs in a Rocky Landscape, painted around 1575-80 for the court of the great Mughal emperor Akbar. For a moment, the 21st century fell away, replaced by the golden glow of a deepening Indian evening, the quiet power of the predator family, and the genius of an artist working at the dawn of a new cultural fusion. Then the bidding began, and the past collided with the present at a staggering velocity. When the gavel fell, the cheetahs had sprinted into history, selling for £10.2 million and heralding the arrival of classical Indian art on the world’s most exclusive financial stage. 

This miniature was the crown jewel of the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan collection sale, an event that didn’t just meet expectations but shattered them, making £45.8 million and becoming the highest-value sale of South Asian art in history. But to view this merely as a successful auction is to miss the profound cultural story unfolding. This sale is the exclamation point at the end of a landmark year, a powerful signal that the surging, decades-long interest in South Asian modern art has finally crested, spilling over to flood its classical roots with newfound appreciation, capital, and a sense of reclaimed heritage. 

The Connoisseur and the Perfect Storm 

The man behind the collection, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, was no ordinary accumulator of beautiful objects. As the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and a prominent spiritual figure, his life was one of global diplomacy and humanitarianism. From the 1960s to the 1990s, he applied a similarly discerning eye to art, assembling his collection at what can only be described as a unique historical juncture. 

In the decades following the Second World War, a perfect storm of provenance hit the market. Treasures that had been brought to Britain by colonial officers and administrators during the Raj were finding their way into auction houses for the first time. Simultaneously, the great collections formed by Armenian and European dealers in Ottoman Turkey and Qajar Iran were being dispersed. Prince Sadruddin, with his resources and impeccable taste, was positioned perfectly to act. He wasn’t just buying individual pieces; he was curating a visual history of the Indian subcontinent from the 16th to the 19th centuries, “en masse,” as the original article notes. This wasn’t a scattered assortment; it was a library of aesthetic thought, a survey of every major school from the Great Mughals to the Deccan Sultanates and the East India Company. 

Beyond the Price Tag: The Cheetah as a Cultural Crucible 

The record-breaking Family of Cheetahs is more than a pretty picture; it is a document of a revolutionary artistic moment. Under Akbar, the Mughal court was a vibrant crucible of cultures. Akbar himself was illiterate, yet he was a profound intellectual and connoisseur who hosted debates between scholars of different faiths and fostered an environment of intense artistic innovation. 

Persian emigrés, fleeing political instability, brought with them the refined, poetic sensibility of the royal courts of Herat and Isfahan. Indian artists like Basawan, a superstar of the Mughal atelier, began to absorb these influences but pushed them further. Where Persian miniatures often favored flat planes, intricate patterning, and idealized landscapes, Basawan injected a profound sense of naturalism and drama. 

Look closely at the cheetahs. They are not mere symbols; they are living, breathing creatures, their musculature taut, their postures imbued with a tangible, wild energy. The landscape itself—with its red rocks and twisting trees—is not a static backdrop but a dynamic, almost emotional, participant in the scene. The deep-gilt sky darkening into evening showcases a revolutionary understanding of light and atmosphere. This painting represents the moment Indian art confidently stepped out from under the shadow of its Persian parent, forging a bold, new hybrid identity. The £10.2 million price tag is a belated recognition of that seismic creative leap. 

A Window into a Living World: The Fraser Album 

If the cheetah miniature represents courtly refinement, the Fraser Album paintings offer a gritty, vibrant street-level view of India. The eight works from the album sold for a combined £6.2 million, and their value lies in their startling humanity. Painted by Indian artists for Scottish brothers William and James Baillie Fraser in the early 19th century, these portraits are acts of ethnographic documentation fused with artistic brilliance. 

The portraits of Afghan horse merchants and Pashtun tribesmen are so meticulously detailed that their turbans and hairstyles feel immediately contemporary, as if they could be “plucked out of Kandahar or Peshawar today.” This observation is crucial. It collapses the distance of two centuries, forcing us to see the subjects not as exotic “others” from a forgotten past, but as individuals with distinct identities and styles, part of a living, continuous culture. 

Similarly, the portrait of the courtesan ‘Peearee Jan’ in her striking flared trousers is a testament to the fashion and complex social structures of the time. These works are not just art; they are history, sociology, and journalism, all rendered with a sensitivity that transcends their colonial context. 

The New Market Dynamics: Roots and Reckoning 

So, why now? Why has this particular sale broken all previous records? The insights from Christie’s Sara Plumbly point to a fundamental shift in the market’s engine. 

First, and most importantly, is “the emergence of Indian buyers.” For years, the market for classical Indian art was dominated by Western institutions and collectors. Today, a new generation of Indian collectors, who first cut their teeth on the vibrant, expressive works of Modern masters like M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza, and Amrita Sher-Gil, are now “looking back to the roots.” Having developed a passion for their nation’s 20th-century narrative, they are now investing in the deeper, dynastic stories that inform it. This is a classic pattern of art market maturation: a passion for the contemporary sparks a curiosity about the classical. 

Second is the role of exceptional supply. The art market is driven by rarity and quality. Landmark single-owner sales, like the 2011 Cary Welch sale which made £29 million, act as catalysts. They “set a new benchmark,” educating the market, creating new benchmarks for quality, and giving top-tier collectors a reason to engage. The Aga Khan sale, with its unparalleled provenance and quality, was the next logical step in this upward trajectory, upping the game once more. 

However, the sale also revealed a lingering divide. While paintings from the Indian courts soared, works by long-celebrated Iranian masters like Reza Abbasi sold for comparatively modest sums. This underscores that, for now, the markets for Indian classical art and Persian or broader Islamic art, while historically intertwined, are driven by different collector bases. As Plumbly notes, it is often institutions, with their broader, more academic mandates, that are “bridging that gap.” 

A Lasting Legacy 

The final hammer price of £45.8 million is more than a figure; it is a validation. It validates Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan’s lifetime of curatorial passion. It validates the artistic genius of Basawan and his contemporaries. And most significantly, it validates the cultural and financial coming-of-age of the South Asian art market. 

The record-breaking cheetah does not simply hang on a new wall; it stands as a potent symbol of a market that has found its confidence. It announces that the art of the Mughal courts, the Deccan Sultanates, and the Company period is no longer a niche interest but a major global asset, rich with history, beauty, and a compelling human story that the world is finally, fully, ready to appreciate. The landmark year may be closing, but the renaissance is just beginning.