Paris, 13 December 2012
The African art auction held at Christie’s Paris on 11 December made a striking turnover of €6m ($7,8m) and it turned out to be this year’s best sale of African art organised by the Parisian auction house. Amongst the pieces offered we might mention a Nkundu reliquary sold for €2.7m making the world’s best result for an African art piece in 2012. A Fang head, from the Pierre Berès collection, formerly owned by Charles Ratton and later by Félix Fénéon, fetched €385,000.
Two pieces belonging to Henri-Georges and Inès Clouzot were offered on sale as well. On the request of Inès Clouzot all the proceeds were handed over to the Secours catholique. These objects fetched respectively €16,250 for the Fang style head (lot 44) and €67,000 for a Dogon Bambou-Toro from Mali (lot 45). A Tabwa statue from Democratic Republic of Congo was purchased for €481,000, establishing another world record.
“The department is very pleased with the auction’s result, notably with the presence of numerous international collectors, both personal and virtual. We are particularly proud of the result obtained by the Nkundu reliquary” declares Susan Kloman, International Head of the department.
With this sale, Christie’s African and Oceanic art department ends the year 2012 with a total turnover of almost €9m.