Antiquities

Indian Art has a tradition spanning over 5000 years. These five millennia saw several rulers come and go, each one leaving his mark, with his characteristic taste and preference for art. Migration, invasions and alliances led to a lot of fusion and improvement in art styles.

Ancient art is an interesting insight into the life and times of the Indian royalty. It is also proof of what true patronage can do to help art achieve its zenith. The Mughul emperors, Chola kings and the later Chettiar merchants had appreciation for the finer things in life. They encouraged artists with generous rewards, interesting projects to work on, in-depth research, and style comparisons. The result is visible in their respective creations, which are difficult to emulate even today.

The interest in collecting antiquities developed in India during the British rule. The foreigners living in India developed keen interest in indian civilization. After seeing the keen interest that foreigners had in local art the wealthy resident indians too joined the collector fraternity. The migration of these expatriates back to their homeland as well as the work of pioneering scholars like Ananda Coomaraswamy, Stella Kramrisch, Douglas Barrett etc in disseminating knowledge and developing indian sections in museums in the Western world helped place India on the world map of ancient art.

Supply of antiquities is finite. Today art enthusiasts collect the available works of ancient art. The range of antiquities offered by the company includes:

• Stone sculptures (from diverse dynasties like Pallava, Chola, Vijayanagar, Gupta, Chandela etc to name a few)
• Bronzes (pallava, chola, vijayanagar, kashmir, pala, etc)
• Paintings (Rajasthani, Pahari, Mughal, Deccan etc)
• Wood carvings (architectural panels and chariot fragments)

A trusted name in Indian antiquities, Natesan's is a licensed dealer and all items are registered with the archaeology department. On purchase the ownership of the item is transferred to the name of the buyer and an authenticity certificate is issued for every item sold.

To learn more about the Evolution of Art in India click here:  PDF file.