Aga Khan Collection Achieves World Record for Most Valuable South Asian Art Auction
Over nearly five decades, Prince Sadruddin and Princess Catherine Aga Khan succeeded in assembling an impressive array of Indian and Islamic artworks. Their collection featured everything from paintings and manuscripts to drawings and miniatures, dating from the 16th to the 19th century, with each piece demonstrating remarkable quality. On October 28, 2025, the Aga Khan collection set new records at auction, achieving the highest-value sale of South Asian art across all categories in history.
The auction, hosted by Christie’s in London, showcased 95 pieces from the Aga Khan collection, including works by renowned artists such as Dust Muhammad, Basawan, Ghulam Ali Khan, Bishan Singh, and Reza Abbasi. Prince Sadruddin, the younger son of Sultan Sir Mohammad Shah, began his collection in the 1960s, but his dedicated efforts accelerated significantly after his marriage to Princess Catherine in 1972. Throughout the 1990s, the royal couple curated what Christie’s describes as “exquisite examples of textiles, rugs, and paintings from Persia and India,” along with art from the Pahari hills and the Deccan and Safavid courts, chosen for their “beauty and symbolism.”
However, according to Edward Wilkinson, Christie’s global head of Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art, assembling a collection of this magnitude would be nearly impossible today. This is partly due to the influx of Indian and Islamic art entering the market after World War II, when British colonialists and Armenian and European dealers began to widely distribute their collections. In a market rich with rare works from an often overlooked region, Prince Sadruddin flourished, rapidly building one of the world’s most valuable collections of Indo-Persian art.
“In those times, Islamic art was a largely disregarded field, and you could acquire a fine page of Kufik calligraphy, an Islamic script, for under $100,” Prince Sadruddin once reminisced.
This is exactly why the Aga Khan collection made a significant impact when it went up for auction last month. Overall, the collection achieved £45.8 million (approximately $61 million) in sales, far exceeding pre-auction estimates of £8 million (around $7.9 million). Key highlights from the Christie’s auction included Mihr Chand’s Colonel Polier’s nautch, which portrays the titular Swiss-French adventurer during his adventures in India in the late 18th century; several intricately detailed paintings from the Fraser Album, commissioned by William and James Fraser of the East India Company; exquisite Mughal art from 14th-century Persia; and illustrations inspired by the Hindu epic poem Rasikapriya.
Leading the auction was A Family of Cheetahs in a Rocky Landscape, created by Basawan circa 1575-80. This painting depicts cheetahs lounging beneath a large tree, surrounded by verdant grass and red stones. The piece ultimately fetched £10.2 million (about $13.6 million), making it the highest-priced classical Indian or Islamic painting ever sold at auction. For Wilkinson, A Family of Cheetahs represents just one of the many extraordinary pieces in the Aga Khan collection.
“We have become accustomed to referencing the collection as a benchmark for excellence,” Wilkinson states, “therefore this represents a pivotal moment in auction history, greatly anticipated. There is no better collection anywhere globally. Anyone with an appreciation will be captivated by [these paintings].”
To discover more about the auction, visit the Christie’s website.
Prince Sadruddin and Princess Catherine Aga Khan’s substantial collection of Islamic and Indian art secured approximately $61 million at auction, achieving the highest-value sale of South Asian art in history.