ART IN MOTION
African and Oceanic Art Sale
PARIS—On December 12, 2017, after four days of
public previews (December 9–12, inclusive), the seventy
lots that comprise Sotheby’s African and Oceanic art
winter auction will go up for sale. The wide variety of
the origins and styles of the works offered undoubtedly
will appeal to a broad audience, and an equally diverse
price range, with low estimates ranging from 2,000 to
1,500,000 euros, will do the same. This “various owners”
28
sale is characterized by excellence throughout,
and the pieces selected for it were chosen not only for
their intrinsic qualities, but also for the richness of the
dialog that can be established between art object and
collector, so while the works in the sale are consistent
in terms of quality, they also speak to specialized individual
sensibilities. The highlight of the sale, a pair
of Easter Island dance paddles, rapa, both offers the
opportunity to experience magnifi cent refi nement and
the excitement of a truly new discovery. Fresh to the
market, these objects were acquired by a private collector
from a British family which had owned them since
the eighteenth century. The quality of carving of these
rapa alone would be enough to classify each of them
as a masterpiece, but their truly unique nature lies in
the fact that they match, thus confi rming Easter Island
scholar Michel Orliac’s hypothesis that, though usually
separated today, this type of object may have been
conceived of as elements of a pair.
ABOVE: Mask. Punu, Gabon.
Wood, pigment. H: 31 cm.
To be offered by Sotheby’s, Paris, on
December 12, 2017.
Est. 300,000–500,000 euros.
ABOVE RIGHT: Standing
fi gure. Xochipala, Guerrero,
Mexico. AD 900–400.
Terracotta, yellow ocher. H: 46.5 cm.
To be offered by Binoche et Giquello,
Paris, on December 1, 2017.
Est. 25,000–30,000 euros.
from coastal Peru, as well as numerous objects from
the Diquis and Guanacaste cultures of Costa Rica.
Many of the lots in this sale will be offered at low
prices. Sixteen conches from Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia,
and Peru, carry low estimates of between 300
and 800 euros; a group of three small Colima objects
of the Pre-Classic Period of West Mexico are each estimated
at 400 euros; and many other eminently affordable
treasures are bound to make this auction a
perfect opportunity to indulge or develop a passion
for art collecting.
Other major artworks in this sale include a remarkably
conceived Grebo/Kru mask from Liberia with eight
eyes, very much the type of object that inspired the
imaginations of the European artists of the avant-garde.
Louis Carré’s Fang head will also be among the iconic
fi gures in this sale. This piece is a powerful reminder of
the fertile period of time in the West when a taste for
the strength and inventiveness of Africa art was developing
and consolidating. It was displayed at the 1933
exhibition that Charles Ratton and Carré produced at
the Villa Guibert and then again at the legendary African
Negro Art show at MoMA in 1935. The volumes
of this sculpture’s face contrast with the graphic quality
of its coiffure, and it is a notable example of the great
art of the geographic area now known as Gabon, from
which Sotheby’s is also offering a Punu mask, a Kota
mask, and a Tsogho fi gure, among other surprises.
LEFT: Mask.
Grebo/Kru, Liberia.
Wood, pigment. H: 83 cm.
Ex Pierre and Suzanne Vérité, Paris.
To be offered by Sotheby’s, Paris,
on December 12, 2017.
Est. 700,000–1,000,000 euros.
BELOW: Pair of dance
paddles, rapa. Easter Island.
Wood. H: 70.5 and 78 cm.
To be offered by Sotheby’s, Paris, on
December 12, 2017.
Est. 1,000,000–1,500,000 euros.
LEFT: Head. Fang, Gabon.
Wood. H: 53 cm.
Ex Louis Carré, Charles Ratton, and
Gaston de Havenon.
To be offered by Sotheby’s, Paris, on
December 12, 2017.
Est. 1,500,000–2,500,000 euros.