01/10/2001

Christopher Elwes, former Managing Director of Bonhams and Indian art expert Paddy Bowring (who also worked at Bonhams) are to open a new fine art auction house in India. The new firm to be called Bowring's Fine Art Auctioneers is backed by Indian and European shareholders, with the firm’s board of directors chaired by Rai Bahadur M. S. Oberoi, the owner of the Oberoi hotels, which will serve as venues for the auctions. The Oberoi Group is one of Asia's leading hospitality companies and manages 37 luxury international hotels in seven countries. Bowring’s headquarters have been set up in the Indian capital, Delhi, with a second office in Bombay and plans to open in Calcutta and Bangalore. The auction house aims to specialise in textiles, modern and contemporary art (of which Bowring managed sales at Bonhams in 1998) as well as Victorian and Edwardian colonial furnishings dating from the British Raj. (Andrew Moore)