Paris, 13 December 2011
African and Oceanic Art was honoured at Christie’s Paris on 13 December. Both sales organised on the same day received a total of €4.5 million and four world records were broken.
The star lot of the auction was a Fon lion from Benin, acquired for €1 million (with charges), after being estimated at €200,000 (without charge), which makes this the highest bid for a Fon sculpture to ever be presented on the market. African, Oceanic and North American art collectors and amateurs were gathered at the event and fiercely competed for the highest estimated lots, for their rarity and their quality. Another highlight of the auction was a Fang N’gil mask from Cameroon, acquired for €931,000 (estimated at €600,000). Also, a pair of Yorouba statuettes from Nigeria has exceeded Christie’s expectations by far, reaching €385,000 (low estimation of €80,000). Records were established for a Northwest Coast Tlingit mask sold for €277,000 (estimated at €50,000), as well as a Bamana, Jonyeleni, Mali statuette sold for €229,000 and a New Ireland Malagan mask sold for €205,000, four times its low estimate.
This section received its best result and concludes with a total of almost €10.4 million according to Susan Kloman, international director of the African and Oceanic Arts Department.