Paris, 14 December 2012
The sale of African and Oceanic art held on 12 December at Sotheby’s made a total turnover of €7,268,875 BPI, exceeding its previous estimation (between €4m and €5m).
Among the works put on sale, we might note an ensemble of high historical value pieces come from prestigious European collections: the Lemaire Collection (Netherlands), Krieg (Germany), Lejeune (Belgique) and Mendès-France (France). Arts of Central Africa have been particularly highlighted, but remarkable pieces of Oceanian art were purchased as well.
Marguerite de Sabran, head of the African and Oceanic art department for Sotheby’s France, declared “an iconic Biwat flute cap was sold tonight for almost €1.5m, reflecting the sale as a whole: a most refined selection of items, warmly welcomed by the public during the exhibition and by international collectors during the auction”.
The ancestral Biwat figure, from the Lemaire Collection – and previously from the Speyer Collection – is considered one of the most mysterious ritual figures ever created in New Guinea, a true masterpiece of Oceanic art. Originally estimated between €450,000 and €550,000 it was sold to a French collector for €1,408,750, the best sale of the day. Among other remarkable sales we might mention a Fang Ntumu reliquary from North Gabon that fetched €720,750 and a a figure from a Kota Shamayé/Shaké reliquary from West Gabon, auctioned €624,750.