Paris, 30 May 2011
Sotheby’s Paris is holding a prestigious sale of African and Oceanic art on 15 June. The first ten lots are part of the Pierre Guerre Collection and the other one hundred and one are from various private collections.
Primitive art is currently enjoying renewed popularity, as shown by the successful sale of the Robert Rubin Collection in New York and the decision of investment fund “Art Collection Fund” in Luxembourg to dedicate 35% of its budget to tribal arts. For a tribal art sale to be successful, much depends on the prestigious provenance of the lots.
Sotheby’s therefore gathered several collections for the sale. The first one is a part of the Pierre Guerre Collection, a major figure in the twentieth century cultural scene in Marseille. Christine Vidal-Naquet, Pierre Guerre’s daughter, is the current owner of the lots. Among them is a Biéry Fang Mvaï reliquary from Gabon, of which pre-auction estimates could exceed €450,000 to €600,000, according to artwithoutskin website. Lot #9 is also a key lot: a feminine statue from Mali by Maître d’Ogol, estimated at between €300,000 and €450,000. The third most important lot of the collection is a Kota-Shamaye reliquary from Gabon valued at between €100,000 and €150,000.
The other major lots of the sale, which are not from the Pierre Guerre Collection are:
lot #98, statue of an ancestor, meridional Niembo, Hemba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, estimated at between €450,000 and €600,000; lot #102, Léga mask, Democratic Republic of the Congo, estimated at between €250,000 and €300,000; lot #14, crest tile statue of a chef’s house, Maori, New Zeland, valued at between €200,000 and €300,000; lot #17, figurehead, central islands, New Georgia, Solomon Islands, estimated at between €150,000 and €250,000; lot #, Kwélé mask, Gabon, estimated at between €120,000 and €160,000. The sale catalogue provides information on the provenance of items, thus ensuring their authenticity.