This week’s London BRIC sale at Phillips de Pury will give some signals about the market for Contemporary Indian art. Scott Reyburn does a little price history on Bloomberg:

Subodh Gupta’s trademark 2006 painting of metal pots and pans, “Idol Thief 1,” leads the Indian works with an estimate of 320,000 pounds to 380,000 pounds. Two similar paintings by Gupta sold at auction for $1.4 million and $1.2 million respectively in 2008, according to the database Artnet.

“The market for contemporary Indian art hasn’t bounced back yet,” said Conor Macklin, director of the London-based Grosvenor Gallery, which specializes in Indian modern and contemporary works. Comparable Gupta paintings of kitchenware were currently selling for as little as $150,000 in India, Macklin said.

$20 Million Sale at Saatchi Gallery Rides China, Russia Booms (Bloomberg)