MUMBAI (AFP) ― Christie’s hopes to help revive the Indian art scene this week with its first auction in the country, where the market is yet to return to the heady days enjoyed before a crash five years ago.

The international auction house is bringing 83 lots spanning a century of Indian art under the hammer on Thursday, including works by modern master M.F. Husain and national treasures Rabindranath Tagore and Amrita Sher-Gil.

Held at Mumbai’s grand Taj Mahal Palace hotel and expected to attract the country’s growing band of super-rich, the auction is part of Christie’s strategy to tap into the rising clout of Asian buyers, following its first sale in China in September.

“The market has evolved very well, the connoisseurship. People are looking very discerningly at what are the best works,” said Hugo Weihe, international director of Asian Art at Christie’s.