Christie’s, An Eye Enchanted: Indian Paintings from the Collection of Toby Falk
This October, Christie’s is honoured to present An Eye Enchanted: Indian Paintings from the Collection of Toby Falk. The sale includes over 150 paintings from different schools of painting across the Indian subcontinent, from Mughal to Pahari, Deccani, Company School and some of the lesser known Rajasthani centres. Paintings date from the 15th century right up to the beginning of the 20th and values range from £500 to 300,000. Whatever the value, from the lowest in the sale to the highest, one can feel Toby’s discerning and expert eye – you can understand why he acquired each and every one. There are masterpieces for the more established collectors but also pieces that are more accessible to those starting out in the field.
Toby Falk was one of the foremost academics in the field of Indian painting. He died too soon in the 1990s after a brief battle with cancer, but before then was responsible for some of the most important academic texts on Indian and Islamic art. He famously catalogued the collection of the India Office Library and produced Indian Miniatures in the India Office Library in 1981. Amongst other publications were India Revealed (1989) based on the collections of two Scots, James and William Fraser, who went to India at the beginning of the 19th century and were extensive patrons of Company School works, and the catalogues of Persian and Mughal miniatures and drawings exhibited by Colnaghi’s for the Festival of Islam in 1976. All are still go-to reference books for budding scholars and existing academics in the field.
