New York, 16 May 2011
On 13 May, two major sales of tribal art took place at Sotheby’s New York. Robert Rubin’s collection was sold in the morning and a second sale of pre-Columbian tribal art was held in the afternoon. The total of the two sales exceeded 21.8 M$, although the pre-auction estimate was 8.3 M$ to 12.6 M$.
Robert Rubin was one of the co-founders of the Museum of African Art in New York, which opened in 1983. His collection was estimated at between 2.5 M$ and 3.9 M$. 94% of the lots were sold and the sale brought in 11 M$. Heinrich Schweizer, the head of the African art section at Sotheby’s New York, declared that these positive results could be attributed to the prestigious provenance of the objects and the fact that an increasing number of international buyers are interested in tribal art.
The first record of the sale was set by a Songye statuette from Congo, valued at between $150,000 to $250,000 and sold for around 2 M$, including charges. A 27 cm Yombe mother and child statue achieved a similar record.
Oceania and pre-Columbian objects were presented at the afternoon sale. A 90-cm Nigerian statue, dating from 1800, was sold for 1.6 M$. Another record was broken by a Teotihuacan mask from the Pierre and Tana Matisse Collection, valued at between $150,000 and $250,000, and sold for $530,500.
The tribal art market is thus steadily developing, despite claims from the countries of origin and the large amounts of forgeries.