Masters of African and Oceanic Arts

ABOVE: Figure, moai papa, Easter Island.
H. 52 cm
Collection William Downing Webster (1868-1913), Bicester, inv. n° 5404
Collection Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers (1827-1900), Farnham, acquired on October 15, 1898
Collection Pitt Rivers Museum, Farnham
Lance and Roberta Entwistle, London
Patricia Ann Withofs (1934-1998), London
Important private collection, Europe, acquired on December 16, 1980.
To be auctioned by Christie's Paris, 29 June 2022.
Est. 1,500,000 - 2,000,000 euros
© Christie's

PARIS—Christie’s African and Oceanic Arts department is planning an unusual sale on June 29, 2022, in Paris.

Called Masters of African and Oceanic Arts, it will focus on quality and will be limited to just a dozen works, consistent with the notion that exceptionalism in not compatible with abundance. Each of these pieces illustrates one of a number of diverse sculptural traditions, but all share the common denominator of having rarely been seen on the international art market and can thus be described as “rediscovered.”

A rare Papua New Guinea sculpture from the Tristan Tzara collection, mounted on an Inagaki base, will be among the works offered. It was presented in 1926 at the Flechtheim Gallery in Berlin and reproduced in Carl Einstein’s work Südsee-Plastiken: Ausstellung that accompanied the event.

The sale will also include a masterfully crafted Baule mask from Côte d’Ivoire not seen since the iconic Baule: African Art/Western Eyes exhibition curated by Susan Vogel in 1997, as well as an exceptional Kongo nail figure from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which inveterate aficionados with a keen eye may recall seeing in a 1974 Galerie Kamer advertisement.

All of the lots will be on view at Christie’s Paris offices in the days immediately prior to the sale.

Christie's, Paris
29 June 2022, 6pm CEST

ABOVE: Reliquary Guardian Figure, Kota; Gabon.
H. 34 cm
Collection Alain Lagarde (1905-1976), Limoges, acquired ca. 1930
By descent.
To be auctioned by Christie's Paris, 29 June 2022.
Est. 30,000 - 50,000 euros
© Christie's

ABOVE: Mask, kipong; New Ireland.
H. 54,6 cm
Collection Rebecca (1896-1988) and Bernard J. (1895-1978) Reis, New York, acquired before 1958
By descent
Collection Michael Sorafine (*-2021), Los Angeles, acquired in 2013
By descent
To be auctioned by Christie's Paris, 29 June 2022.
Est. 40,000 - 60,000 euros
© Christie's

ABOVE: Mask, ndoma; Baule, Côte d'Ivoire.
H. 34 cm
Collection Roger Bédiat (1897-1958), Abidjan (most probably)
By descent
Georges Stoecklin (1937-1997), Juan-les-Pins
Collection Lucien van de Velde and Mariette Henau, Anvers, acquired ca.1968
Collection Mariette Henau (1934-2012), Antwerp, acquired in 1985
Collection Johan Henau, Antwerp
To be auctioned by Christie's Paris, 29 June 2022.
Est. 500,000 - 600,000 euros
© Christie's