01
A named person answers
Every work, every valuation and every sale has a named person behind it, with a direct line. The heads of the house are listed with their telephone numbers.
The heads of the houseStandards
What the house
holds itself to.
An art house is trusted for what it declines to say as much as for what it says. These are the standards it keeps, and where to see each one at work.
02
One reference for life
Every work is catalogued the day it arrives and given an inventory number that stays with it for life. Every document the work generates carries the same number.
Works available03
What every work carries
A written invoice, a certificate of authenticity, a condition report and the recorded ownership history, all under one house reference.
What provenance means04
Evidence, stated as far as it goes
An attribution is described exactly as strongly as the evidence supports. Where a field is not yet established the house prints a rule and not a plausible figure, and no work is invoiced until its record is complete.
How attribution is worded05
Works by the house's own people
Where the house offers a work by one of its own officers or advisers, it says so plainly on the work and on that person's page. A collector is always told.
An example06
Modern and contemporary only
The house deals in modern and contemporary Indian art. It does not deal in antiquities, which are governed by the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972.
The guide to the rules07
Prices in writing
Where a price is printed beside a work it is the whole price. Every other work is priced on request, in writing, before any commitment.
How buying works08
Private, and asked first
Correspondence is private to its addressee. The site counts visits only if the visitor agrees, and sells nothing about anyone.
How your details are used09
The working shown
A valuation sets the comparable public auction results beside the figure so that the reasoning can be checked, and the guides list the sources they rely on.
The valuation walkQuestions we are asked
AB / FAQ
How does Arts Bespoke describe the strength of an attribution?
Exactly as strongly as the evidence supports. The wording is chosen to match what the ownership history, the signature, the materials and the condition of the work actually show, and no stronger.
What happens if a work's history is incomplete?
The house prints a rule where a fact is not established, and does not fill the gap with a plausible figure. No work is invoiced until its record is complete.
Does the house sell works by its own officers or advisers?
Yes, in some cases. Where it does, it states so plainly on the work and on that person's page, so that a collector is always told.
Does Arts Bespoke deal in antiquities?
No. An object more than a hundred years old is an antiquity under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972, with its own registration and export rules. The house deals in modern and contemporary Indian art.
Enquiries
Begin with a conversation
Hold the house to these standards. If something falls short, write and say so.
Write to Client AdvisorySpeak to the house
Works from the house
AB / WORKS
Abstract
Vermilion rising through ultramarine
Prakash Bal Joshi. A square field worked in ultramarine, violet and teal, with a vermilion form rising through the centre and two dark verticals standing before it.
Devotional & narrative
Krishna and the serpent in lapis and gold
Ramesh Gorjala. A turquoise face in profile, the tilak white against it, looks quietly out of the canvas.
Abstract
Embrace in two blues
Sanjeev Sonpimpare. Two rounded figures, one in deep ultramarine and one in pale cornflower blue, hold each other in an embrace; a smaller dark-blue form nestles against the pale figure's sh.
Landscape, nature & trees
A rain-washed window onto green
Swati. A view through a rain-covered window: a misty park in grey-green, dark trees massing at the right, and a pale path running across the middle distance with a single small.
All works Abstract Figures Devotional Landscape Ravi Varma Press stones