S otheby’s is proud to present its traditional winter auction dedicated to the art of Africa, Oceania, Indonesia, and the Americas. This auction will provide an opportunity to highlight the creations of talented anonymous artists from these distant lands and civilisations. It features a wide array representative of a number of horizons, offering stopovers at pre-Columbian America, the northwest coast of Alaska, the islands of the Oceanic and Indonesian regions, and sub-Saharan Africa.
One portion of the auction will focus on a capsule collection of objects from the islands of the Oceanic area amassed by a Parisian aficionado. It includes a considerable selection of tortoiseshell objects, ornaments, lime spatulas, and tolùk dishes, including Fijian war clubs, Tongan headrests, and Javanese krises.
Moreover, Indonesia will be honoured through a group of Dayak hampatong figures from a Belgian collection brought forward by Emile Deletaille.
Not to be outdone, the African continent will be represented by a historical Punu okuyi mask brought back by Governor of the Colonies Joseph Guyon (1870-1942), who was appointed to Gabon during WWI; the object has remained with his family ever since. Moreover, Gabon will be showcased through a significant array of Kota reliquary figures. The rounded shapes of one of the most exquisite Attié figures ever attributed to a great master of West African sculpture will also make an appearance.
Rounding out the assemblage, a unique collection of Colombian gold ornaments and a Kwakiutl cup from British Columbia formerly held by the Pitt Rivers Museum demonstrate American craftsmanship.
Gold is the most precious material to be worked by human hands since time immemorial. The metal is fascinating for several reasons: its colour, first of all, evoking light and sunshine; its timelessness, due to its resistance to corrosion; and its rarity, which makes it very coveted indeed. It is no coincidence that the most precious artefacts ever crafted by human hands are made of gold, or that they have been handed down through the centuries. As the finery of kings, queens, chiefs and shamans, gold objects and ornaments have always demonstrated their power and prestige. Moreover, they have been passed along from generation to generation as symbols of the economic and cultural wealth of great civilisations.
This auction presents a great number of objects crafted in gold from two civilisations that developed on opposite sides of the globe. North America is represented by an array of gold objects from a pre-Columbian art collection, including a Peruvian Sicán beaker (lot 61) and zoomorphic Central American pendants from the Diquis (lot 62) and Veraguas / Chiriquí (lot 63) cultures, as well as one in what is known as the International Style (lot 64). Meanwhile, West Africa is exemplified by a remarkable selection of Akan jewellery (lots 65, 66 and 67).
Gold in West Africa is concentrated along the aptly-named “Gold Coast”. A number of European trading posts cropped up there as early as the late 15th century, eager to source the precious metal.
Thus the Ashantis, one of the Akan peoples, came to play an important role in dealing with Europeans, “and the advantages they gained through this trade greatly assisted in consolidating their independent power, based on their remarkable economic, military and religious organisation”[1].
In that region, gold was associated with the king’s person and his quality as an earthly god. Legends conveyed that relationship, and in particular it was told that a golden stool descended from the heavens to land on the lap of King Osei Tutu, making him the symbol of the divine dimension of royalty.[2] The Baoulé people, another Akan ethnic group, customarily wore jewellery at wedding and birth festivities. The most precious pieces were signs of prestige and prosperity.
Prehispanic metallurgy – one of the most varied and elaborate of the ancient Americas – was the vector of representation for beliefs about life and eternity. Objects included masks, pectorals, nose adornments, pendants, pins, and poporos featuring the images of men, women, animals and hybrid creatures.
These gold pieces not only contributed to the history of the culture, but also manifested the power of elites. Moreover, the use of symbols was a means to build and transform the labyrinth of human identity.
[1] Falgayrettes-Leveau Christiane, Corps sublimes, Musée Dapper, p. 75.
[2] Ibid., p. 79.
Nigeria, the largest country in West Africa, boasts one of the greatest artistic diversities of the entire continent. It is expressed through traditional art relating to social, political or religious life, taking on various forms according to the cultural group. Some creations are distinctive for the quality of their sculpture and are clearly the work of masters. Such is the case for objects of the Yoruba people from the southwest of Nigeria. For example, the axe handle attributed to Bàbá Roti (lot 93) is a ritual object of which the aesthetic appearance transcends its purpose as an everyday object. Likewise, the agere ifa divination bowl (lot 94) and Oshe Shango staff (lot 95), in honour of the thunder god Shango, are both emblematic objects of Yoruba society and the importance accorded to the expressive and symbolic power of its art.
Traditional Nigerian art is inextricable from its ritual use. In some cases, both the appearance and function of such objects are complex and fascinating. This applies to the limited corpus of Iphri shrines, crafted by the Ijaw people from the Niger Delta region in southern Nigeria (lot 96).
More to the north, in the Benue River area, the Idoma people were distinctive for their extensive use of masks, demonstrating a social order based on secret societies like that of their Igbo neighbours. The rare janiform head crest (lot 87) is probably the work of a master sculptor. It bears the traces of ancient use, and indeed asserts itself as a symbol of Nigerian art unto itself.
The panorama of traditional Nigerian art summarised in these few characteristic objects reveals the aesthetic, ritual and historic importance of artistic expression in that part of the continent, which is why aficionados, collectors and institutions take such a keen interest in it.
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