Antiques Roadshow guest mutters single-word response as painting of his mum gets top price

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.

An Antiques Roadshow expert shared the fascinating backstory of an artist before giving away the true value of a painting of a man’s mother. The unforgettable BBC daytime series travelled to Arley Hall, Cheshire, to shoot another episode and this time, expert Amin Jaffer was on hand to look at the artwork.

When presented with a portrait of a woman, the Antiques Roadshow specialist remarked: “You might think you’re looking at a portrait by a European artist of the 1930s. In actual fact, this painting was done by an Indian artist in the 1950s.

“It’s obviously a portrait. Can you tell me something about the sitter?” he asked, as the guest shared: “Yes, the sitter’s my mother. It was painted in India. The artist worked for Grindlays bank which was where my father worked.”

Jaffer explained that the painting had been made by Indian artist Krishen Khanna, someone who the guest’s mum tried to stay in contact with over the years after he painted her.

Jaffer elaborated: “And the story of Grindlays Bank is fascinating because Krishen Khanna, his family originally came from Lahore.

“With the separation of India and Pakistan, they moved to Shimla where he worked in Grindlays Bank. Well the artist gives up banking in 1960 and becomes a professional painter.

“He takes the leap, although he had very little money and took that big step to become a professional artist and of course, most of the works we know of his, date from that later period, from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, etc.

“It’s extremely rare to find a picture from Krishen Khanna from 1954, from this experimental phase.”

The expert stated that, after taking a few evening classes in painting, Khanna went on to become “a really important figure” often deemed as “one of the great modern painters of India”.

He continued: “It’s a fascinating picture, it’s very, very much rooted in European painting of the 1930s. It has a very, very luminous effect with this very thick painting.”

“Krishen Khanna has become a big name and what’s happened is the whole market for modern Indian painting has gone through the roof.

“Partly with the birth of private museums in India, with the Indian diaspora, Indians in Britain and America, in south east Asia, who want to reclaim some of this modern heritage and have started to collect."

When questioned if he had any idea of what the painting might be worth, the guest candidly replied: “None. None whatsoever. It’s never been valued.

“I’ve mentioned to my mother that I might bring it here today and she said ‘Go ahead. See what happens.’ But no idea whatsoever.”

It was then time for the official appraisal with Jaffer concluding: “Well I think she would be happy to know that were it to be offered at auction, it would probably be within the estimate of something like £30,000 to £50,000 today.”

The audience, including the guest’s wife, gasped, clearly stunned by the massive figures but the owner himself didn’t react.

He paused before uttering: “Crikey." He then turned to his wife, who exclaimed: “Are you shocked or am I?”

Jaffer commented: “I think you’re going to make her a very happy lady today”, as the guest replied: “Thank you very much indeed. She will be.”

The audience then broke out into applause as the guest looked at the painting in awe.

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.