Paris – Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr is organising its second Islamic and Indian Art auction in Paris, running online until 12 September in Paris. This sale will offer an eclectic mix of rare Ottoman, Persian and North African manuscripts, arms and armour, and various works of art, as well as Indian works of art which might be of interest for enthusiastic international collectors. This will be the second Bonhams' Islamic and Indian Art sale in Paris.

This auction will offer rare Ottoman, Persian and North African Manuscripts, exquisite arms and armour, and a variety of fascinating works of art. Among then, dated to the mid-16th century, an Ottoman steel sword (kilij) from Turkey, 16th/ 17th Century (Estimate: €12,000 - 14,000). A sword with a comparable blade dated to the 15th/ 16th Century is in the Royal Armouries collection in Leeds (England) though the yelman of the present lot extends further up the blade which would suggest a slightly later date. The hilt, with the offset cap pommel, and cross-guard with broad quillons are of forms which suggest that they may be contemporary with the blade.

Indian works of art are also offered at auction such as a picchavai depicting four maidens dancing at the autumn full moon (Sarat Purnama), from Rajasthan, probably Kotah, late 19th/20th Century, which is a delicate gouache on cloth. (Estimate: €1,000 – 2,000). Above the maidens are divine couples riding in celestial chariots, and at their feet flows the River Jumna.

The Ramayana, also known as Valmiki Ramayana, is a text from ancient India, one of the two important epics of Hinduism, the other being the Mahabharata. The epic narrates the life of Rama, the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu, who is a prince of Ayodhya in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi; his travels across the forests in the Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana; the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana, the king of Lanka, that resulted in bloodbath; and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya along with Sita to be crowned as a king amidst jubilation and celebration.

A large kalamkari panel depicting Rama and Sita enthroned, with scenes from the Ramayana, avatars of Vishnu, and other episodes from Hindu mythology, South India, Coromandel Coast, probably Kalahasti, late 19th/early 20th Century (Estimate: €2,000 – 3,000). The main centre for the manufacture of such panels was the town of Kalahasti on the Coromandel Coast, north of Madras.

An illustrated leaf from a manuscript, perhaps a version of the Ramayana or another Hindu epic Deccan, 18th Century is illustrated in gouache and gold, perhaps depicting Rama and Lakhsmana and other figures and bears 7 lines of text in an unidentified Indian language written in nasta'liq script in black ink, one line in red. (Estimate: €600 - 800).

Oliver White, Bonhams Head of Islamic and Indian Art said: "Our Islamic and Indian Art sales offer a wide range of works representing the diverse and rich cultural heritage of the Islamic world, including manuscripts and works on paper, ceramics, metalwork, textiles and arms and armour from the 7th to 20th centuries. The sale also features works from India's finest artistic traditions: from Rajput, Mughal and Sikh miniature paintings to Buddhist, Jain and Hindu sculpture, as well as jewellery and jade from India's royal courts. Prices are really affordable and can interest young international collectors."

Other highlights of the sale include:

• A large painted wood figure of Kamadhenu, the goddess of plenty, South India, Trichinopoly, 19th/ 20th Century, carved and overlaid with cloth, painted in polychrome (estimate: €1,500 - 2,000). Kamadhenu (also known as Surabhi) is the mother of all cows, the cow of plenty who provides her owner with whatever they seek. In the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana, Kamadhenu and her calf lived with the sage Jamadagni in his hermitage, where they were captured by the thousand-armed king Kartavirya Arjuna and then rescued by Parashurama. Kamadhenu can also be depicted with a hybrid body, as here, composed of the head of a woman, the body of a cow with the wings of an eagle, and the tail of a peacock.

• A large repoussé silver bowl, Burma, 20th Century, decorated in repousse with various Hindu religious scenes including Ganesh, Vishnu, Narasimha avatar, the base with roundel containing a peacock (estimate: €1,500 – 2,000).

• A large Kirman carpet measuring 420 x 290 cm, East Persia (estimate: €1,200 - 1,500).

• Vue de Constantinople, hand-coloured engraving, published 21st March 1807, depicts an event during the Anglo-Turkish War of 1807-09. Another example of this print is in the Musées de la Ville de Paris. (Estimate: €500 - 700).

• Siva and Parvati with Ganesh and Nandi, Jaipur, circa 1850, gouache and gold on paper, red border. (Estimate: €500 - 700).

• A Madhubani painting depicting Hanuman with Sita in the forest, Bihar, second half of the 20th Century, watercolour on paper (Estimate: €600 - 800).