Seven works by the legendary Pakistani artist Sadequain will come under the hammer at auction house Bonham’s London branch on Tuesday. These paintings include ‘Judgment in Paris’, ‘Two figures’ and ‘Mehr and enfant’ among other untitled works.

“These are all off-market pieces, as the kind of pieces you will not see at galleries,” says Nour Aslam, the Head of Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art at Bonhams Auction House. The pieces come from private collections in Pakistan, France and Germany, and are expected to be among the main draws at the upcoming Islamic and Indian art auction taking place on Tuesday.

“Sadequain painted at a feverish pitch his entire life,” says Dr Salman Ahmed, head of the Sadequain Foundation and author of several books on Sadequain. “The current sale at Bonhams represents several pieces that Sadequain had left behind in Paris in 1967 when he made an unplanned temporary visit to Pakistan, but for inexplicable reasons never returned to Paris.”

In 2008 a Bonham’s auction in Dubai set the world record for Sadequain sales, with one piece fetching as much as 150,000 pounds.

However, this time around expectations are a bit lower, and Bonhams feels that the pieces will collectively sell for anything between 115,000 and 250,000 pounds sterling.

“As 2008 was the height of the market, we do not expect the same prices from that sale, however we have received a huge amount of interest in all of our works, so we are hoping the sale will do very well. At the end of the day, you never know what will happen at auction, but we’re hoping for an excellent sale,” says Aslam.

Dr Salman Ahmed, head of the US-based Sadequain Foundation also says that there is a great deal of interest anytime a Sadequain pieces are up for sale.

“In international art markets, Sadequain’s works consistently fetch high prices. With a few individual exceptions where pieces other than Sadequain’s fetched record prices, Sadequain’s works are consistently priced at the highest value. His aggregate over the years far exceeds any other Pakistani artist,” he says.

Indeed, the prices fetched by his pieces in international auctions have been rising steadily, given that his works sold in early 1990’s auctions for as little as 1,000 pounds each.

“Sadequain should not be judged simply by the monetary value of his art, but by the innovation and depth of his work. His legacy needs to be preserved,” adds Dr Ahmed.

Sadequain is considered to the one of the first Pakistani artists to have gained international fame at a fairly young age. Dubbed the Pakistani Picasso by French art circles, he was awarded the prestigious Laureate Biennale de Paris for his painting, ‘Last Supper’.

Most of the buyers in this current auction are expected to be wealthy Pakistani and South Asian expats, says Nour Aslam. Beyond Sadequain, the other masters who attract international attention are Gulgee, Chughtai, Bashir Mirza, Ustab Allah Baksh, Jamil Naqsh, Ahmed Parvez, Shakir Ali, Jalal Shemza and others.

“There is a huge amount of interest in South Asian art,” says Aslam. “Especially since our contemporary artists are doing so well! Imran, Rashid, Shazia, Aisha, Faiza, they are producing excellent art, but also paving the way for some many up and coming artists as well,” she says.