Sculpture

1948 Prodash das Gupta Bronze Sculpture

Appraisal: 1948 Prodash das Gupta Bronze Sculpture

Transcript

GUEST: A friend of mine found it in a thrift shop.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And she thought it was a planter. And she brought it over, and I turned it over, and it had a signature so... his name is Das Gupta.

APPRAISER: That's right, Prodosh Das Gupta.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: And he's an Indian artist.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: And it's dated 1948.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And it's number five of five.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: So he was probably the most well-known Indian sculptor of the middle part of the 20th century. He started working in the 1940s. And he was very, very successful. He had an exhibition of his work at the Tate Gallery.

GUEST: At the Tate, oh, okay.

APPRAISER: Yeah, so he was really, really well known. Did you ever wonder what these little circles were?

GUEST: So that's not just worn... well?

APPRAISER: What these are is when they cast these pieces, sometimes there's a casting flaw. And what happens is the bronze doesn't completely go into the mold, or there are gaps. So they drill a hole here, and they thread it, and they have a bronze screw, and they screw it in, and then they polish it off.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: And this would have had a patina on it, and that would have covered all of these little circles.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: So your friend paid...?

GUEST: Seven dollars.

APPRAISER: Really?

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: Did she bargain them down, or just she thought it was worth seven dollars?

GUEST: I think she paid the asking price.

APPRAISER: She did, okay.

GUEST: I would have asked the senior discount myself.

APPRAISER: I would have also. His work is very popular, and this whole field of modern Indian art is actually booming right now.