Gabon
ca 1800 Fang-Mvai Figure
2018 SOLD for $ 3.5M by Sotheby's
Communication with the ancestors enabled to get power, wealth, fertility, success in hunting and war. Among the Fang, this intense ritual activity was named byeri. Above the box containing the bones, the ancestor was represented by a statue acting as a reliquary figure.
In 2001 De Grunne and Perrois described the extreme similarity of six Fang figures made about 200 years ago in the upper valley of the Ntem river in northern Gabon in a unique workshop, probably by the same artist of the Mvai ethnic group. The beautiful dark brown polished patina is typical of this group.
To perform their main function as a deterrent guardian of a reliquary chest of the byeri, these characters are male, highly sexualized with powerful rounded muscles. The three-pointed headdress is a warrior attribute. Yet the big head, the prominent navel and the short limbs have the proportions of a newborn child.
At the beginning of the 20th century European artists were seduced by this model of which all the known examples are of a perfect execution. The Fang-Mvai figure evokes the whole cycle of life in one character without losing any of its aesthetic balance. Expression in art does not need realism to arouse the emotion.
A Fang-Mvai figure was sold for $ 3.5M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2018, lot 16. With its patina still oozing the ritual palm oil, it is one of the most desirable pieces of tropical African art.
On June 15, 2011, Sotheby's sold for € 2.6M a masterpiece of the Fang art from Gabon. It is a male figure 53 cm high. The anatomy is composed of strong volumes, with an expressive and oversized head, giving an idea of the authority of the character. The finely carved details are typical of the Mvaï group: large hairdress in three parts, wide almond shaped eyes, arched mouth very close to the chin.
The statuette collected around 1915 was transmitted only by family ties, and has never been available on the market. The collection once contained another byeri reliquary statue of similar quality, which was sold for FF 5.5M by Loudmer in Paris on June 20, 1996, a price then considered as exceptional in its category.
In 2001 De Grunne and Perrois described the extreme similarity of six Fang figures made about 200 years ago in the upper valley of the Ntem river in northern Gabon in a unique workshop, probably by the same artist of the Mvai ethnic group. The beautiful dark brown polished patina is typical of this group.
To perform their main function as a deterrent guardian of a reliquary chest of the byeri, these characters are male, highly sexualized with powerful rounded muscles. The three-pointed headdress is a warrior attribute. Yet the big head, the prominent navel and the short limbs have the proportions of a newborn child.
At the beginning of the 20th century European artists were seduced by this model of which all the known examples are of a perfect execution. The Fang-Mvai figure evokes the whole cycle of life in one character without losing any of its aesthetic balance. Expression in art does not need realism to arouse the emotion.
A Fang-Mvai figure was sold for $ 3.5M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2018, lot 16. With its patina still oozing the ritual palm oil, it is one of the most desirable pieces of tropical African art.
On June 15, 2011, Sotheby's sold for € 2.6M a masterpiece of the Fang art from Gabon. It is a male figure 53 cm high. The anatomy is composed of strong volumes, with an expressive and oversized head, giving an idea of the authority of the character. The finely carved details are typical of the Mvaï group: large hairdress in three parts, wide almond shaped eyes, arched mouth very close to the chin.
The statuette collected around 1915 was transmitted only by family ties, and has never been available on the market. The collection once contained another byeri reliquary statue of similar quality, which was sold for FF 5.5M by Loudmer in Paris on June 20, 1996, a price then considered as exceptional in its category.
The Barnet Fang is among the greatest accomplishments of world sculpture. Created to accompany ancestral relics this 19th century figure from Gabon’s Ntem Valley today sold for $3.5m #auctionupdate pic.twitter.com/K7iU3Zn6vG
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 14, 2018
Fang-Betsi Head
Intro
To meet the need to communicate with the dead ancestor, sculptors from the Fang-Betsi ethnic subgroup in Gabon produced masterpieces. The figure is fixed on a reliquary box keeping the skull or long bones. The standing statuettes had a ritual role, while the rarer heads were used for family devotion. This ancestor cult is named the byeri.
Full length bodies referred to family ancestors although their naturalistic appearance does not constitute recognizable portraits. They were used in ceremonies.
Heads are rarer and had a more intimate ritual role for the use of the initiated. They were coated with oil and powder to better communicate with the ancestor. The artists also executed a superb polishing on their geometrically perfect curves.
The heads have this remarkable characteristic of bringing an individualization of the details within a general shape which is invariant : the forehead is broad and curved, the lips are tight, the chin is minimized, the neck is a cylinder.
For the family that kept the head, the deceased was identifiable both by the facial features and by an attribute. However it is impossible for a modern observer to appreciate whether a head is male or female, despite the diversity of hairstyles.
At the beginning of the 20th century, when several of these Fang heads, identified as têtes Pahouines in period, could be described and exhibited together, it was indeed the simultaneous observation of their similarities and of their differences that forever changed the modern European art. As early as 1906, Vlaminck, Derain, Braque and Matisse shared the new craze for African art, soon followed by Picasso.
Full length bodies referred to family ancestors although their naturalistic appearance does not constitute recognizable portraits. They were used in ceremonies.
Heads are rarer and had a more intimate ritual role for the use of the initiated. They were coated with oil and powder to better communicate with the ancestor. The artists also executed a superb polishing on their geometrically perfect curves.
The heads have this remarkable characteristic of bringing an individualization of the details within a general shape which is invariant : the forehead is broad and curved, the lips are tight, the chin is minimized, the neck is a cylinder.
For the family that kept the head, the deceased was identifiable both by the facial features and by an attribute. However it is impossible for a modern observer to appreciate whether a head is male or female, despite the diversity of hairstyles.
At the beginning of the 20th century, when several of these Fang heads, identified as têtes Pahouines in period, could be described and exhibited together, it was indeed the simultaneous observation of their similarities and of their differences that forever changed the modern European art. As early as 1906, Vlaminck, Derain, Braque and Matisse shared the new craze for African art, soon followed by Picasso.
1
ex Barbier-Mueller
2024 SOLD for € 14.8M by Christie's
A head of a Fang-Betsi reliquary was offered in the 1930s by Père Moris, a Parisian dealer of African art. With no known antecedent, it could not have participated to the 1906 Fauviste craze for the Têtes Pahouines. It nevertheless has special emotional qualities with its attention to details, mesmerizing eyes and elegant portrait lines.
Despite its naturalistic beauty it cannot be identified if this figure is a beardless man or a woman. The braid hairstyle does not close this issue in the Fang culture. It is likely that this ambiguity was voluntary and may be related to the ancient African tradition of hermaphroditic interpretation of the primordial ancestor. This braid is also present in the ex Carré, Ratton, de Havenon, Berri example sold for € 2.63M by Sotheby's on December 12, 2017, lot 24 (see video).
Purchased in 1939 to Moris by Josef Müller, it became an outstanding piece of the Barbier-Mueller museum in Geneva. It was sold for € 14.8M by Christie's on March 6, 2024, lot 55.
Despite its naturalistic beauty it cannot be identified if this figure is a beardless man or a woman. The braid hairstyle does not close this issue in the Fang culture. It is likely that this ambiguity was voluntary and may be related to the ancient African tradition of hermaphroditic interpretation of the primordial ancestor. This braid is also present in the ex Carré, Ratton, de Havenon, Berri example sold for € 2.63M by Sotheby's on December 12, 2017, lot 24 (see video).
Purchased in 1939 to Moris by Josef Müller, it became an outstanding piece of the Barbier-Mueller museum in Geneva. It was sold for € 14.8M by Christie's on March 6, 2024, lot 55.
2
ex Vlaminck
2021 SOLD for € 7.7M by Christie's
On June 23, 2021, Christie's sold for € 7.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M a 35 cm high Fang-Betsi head that had belonged to Vlaminck, lot 9. Most of these reliquary pieces have a specific feature enabling to the tribe to identify the ancestor. It is in this case the trefoil headdress on the back of the skull.
3
2024 SOLD for € 4.3M by Christie's
A 23 cm high Fang-Betsi head was sold for $ 3.64M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2014, lot 82, and for € 4.3M by Christie's on December 18, 2024, lot 16.
The nose is unusually big and the eyes are very near together. The specific attribute is a stick that crosses the nostrils.
It features a very fine deep black patina of ritually applied oil and encrustation.
It had surfaced ca 1913 in New York in the collection of Joseph Brummer. A Hungarian-born dealer who had supported in Paris the avant-garde sculptors and painters, Brummer was instrumental in establishing a knowledgeable market for African sculptures in America.
In 1917 it was highlighted in the cover page of the fifth and last issue of The Soil, an American magazine about the modern aspects of American life including industrial design, jazz, boxing and the shop-window displays on Broadway.
The nose is unusually big and the eyes are very near together. The specific attribute is a stick that crosses the nostrils.
It features a very fine deep black patina of ritually applied oil and encrustation.
It had surfaced ca 1913 in New York in the collection of Joseph Brummer. A Hungarian-born dealer who had supported in Paris the avant-garde sculptors and painters, Brummer was instrumental in establishing a knowledgeable market for African sculptures in America.
In 1917 it was highlighted in the cover page of the fifth and last issue of The Soil, an American magazine about the modern aspects of American life including industrial design, jazz, boxing and the shop-window displays on Broadway.
Fang head
— ArtHitParade (@ArtHitParade) December 3, 2024
for sale by @ChristiesInc https://t.co/pn86pDNDez
In the top 10 of #Gabon from a previous salehttps://t.co/TQosOEYeia
4
2020 SOLD for $ 3.5M by Sotheby's
On June 29, 2020, Sotheby's sold for $ 3.5M a 28 cm high Fang-Betsi head, lot 116.
The large eyes bring a mesmerizing expression. The specific attribute is a pair of wings placed on the ears and widely protruding behind the neck.
The large eyes bring a mesmerizing expression. The specific attribute is a pair of wings placed on the ears and widely protruding behind the neck.
#AuctionUpdate: The Clyman Fang Head, the first work of classical African Art to be presented in any Contemporary Art Evening Auction, reaches $3.5 million pic.twitter.com/3BCZ9luQ3G
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 30, 2020
Fang Reliquary Figure
2015 SOLD for € 3.8M by Christie's
The byeri, practiced by the numerous Fang ethnic groups in Gabon and neighboring countries, is not a theology but a cult of the ancestors.
The deceased person had knowledge and wisdom and his death must not interrupt his teaching. The anthropomorphic fetish is the guardian of the reliquary containing the bones. The ancestor is not anonymous but the colonization deleted the oral traditions that applied to him.
The statuette is necessary for the initiation rites. The adolescent drinks a hallucinogenic concoction before spending a whole night in the presence of the figures of the ancestors. In this carefully organized delirium, he understands how he shall behave throughout his adult life.
This figure of the night is in blackened wood. Some Fang tribes add a refinement: large circular eyes in glued and pinned copper or brass have a hypnotizing effect. It is not surprising that the figures of the byeri, quite common, have fascinated the first European connoisseurs in the early twentieth century more than any other category of African tribal art.
On December 3, 2015, Christie's sold at lot 76 for € 3.8M from a lower estimate of € 2M one of the most described pieces, the Guillaume-Fourquet specimen acquired in 1965 by André Fourquet at the auction sale of the Paul Guillaume collection.
This figure 55 cm high has two remarkable features: its black oozing lacquered patina is in very good condition and it still has one of its copper eyes. The loss of both forearms at the elbow can not be an accident or a coincidence. It has probably been voluntarily amputated at the time of its collection to prevent that its magic powers benefit the godless Europeans.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's :
The deceased person had knowledge and wisdom and his death must not interrupt his teaching. The anthropomorphic fetish is the guardian of the reliquary containing the bones. The ancestor is not anonymous but the colonization deleted the oral traditions that applied to him.
The statuette is necessary for the initiation rites. The adolescent drinks a hallucinogenic concoction before spending a whole night in the presence of the figures of the ancestors. In this carefully organized delirium, he understands how he shall behave throughout his adult life.
This figure of the night is in blackened wood. Some Fang tribes add a refinement: large circular eyes in glued and pinned copper or brass have a hypnotizing effect. It is not surprising that the figures of the byeri, quite common, have fascinated the first European connoisseurs in the early twentieth century more than any other category of African tribal art.
On December 3, 2015, Christie's sold at lot 76 for € 3.8M from a lower estimate of € 2M one of the most described pieces, the Guillaume-Fourquet specimen acquired in 1965 by André Fourquet at the auction sale of the Paul Guillaume collection.
This figure 55 cm high has two remarkable features: its black oozing lacquered patina is in very good condition and it still has one of its copper eyes. The loss of both forearms at the elbow can not be an accident or a coincidence. It has probably been voluntarily amputated at the time of its collection to prevent that its magic powers benefit the godless Europeans.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's :
Kota Reliquary Figure
2015 SOLD for € 5.5M by Christie's
The Kota reliquary figure was used to mark the location of a buried basket containing the relics of the dead. These tribal graveyard ornaments from Gabon have common generic features.
The flat face in leaf shape is more or less stylized. It is placed on a wider oval on which they could hang ear ornaments. The hair is a crest looking like a military helmet and the hollowed diamond shape constituting the body is undoubtedly a symbol of female fertility.
Collected at an unknown date, which is the case for most of these pieces, a Kota figure 66 cm high had highly influenced the art of the twentieth century by the constructivist purity of its face limited to a central ridge between the two eyes positioned halfway up the head.
Its provenance is exceptional.
Its earliest identified owner is Georges de Miré in the 1920s. De Miré was one of very few connoisseurs at that time who knew to see an intrinsic artistic quality within a tribal piece.
Following financial difficulties, De Miré sold his collection at auction in Drouot on 16 December 1931. The Kota was purchased at this sale by Helena Rubinstein.
It was acquired in the early 1980s by William Rubin, the director in New York MoMA and former friend of Picasso who was able to interview the artists to explain the depth of the tribal influence on modern art, becoming the most subtle theorist of primitivism.
This figure was sold for € 5.5M by Christie's on June 23, 2015, lot 37.
The flat face in leaf shape is more or less stylized. It is placed on a wider oval on which they could hang ear ornaments. The hair is a crest looking like a military helmet and the hollowed diamond shape constituting the body is undoubtedly a symbol of female fertility.
Collected at an unknown date, which is the case for most of these pieces, a Kota figure 66 cm high had highly influenced the art of the twentieth century by the constructivist purity of its face limited to a central ridge between the two eyes positioned halfway up the head.
Its provenance is exceptional.
Its earliest identified owner is Georges de Miré in the 1920s. De Miré was one of very few connoisseurs at that time who knew to see an intrinsic artistic quality within a tribal piece.
Following financial difficulties, De Miré sold his collection at auction in Drouot on 16 December 1931. The Kota was purchased at this sale by Helena Rubinstein.
It was acquired in the early 1980s by William Rubin, the director in New York MoMA and former friend of Picasso who was able to interview the artists to explain the depth of the tribal influence on modern art, becoming the most subtle theorist of primitivism.
This figure was sold for € 5.5M by Christie's on June 23, 2015, lot 37.
Kota Head Mask
2021 SOLD for € 3.26M by Christie's
Tribal migration is changing the cultural practices. About 300 years ago, some Bantu groups are pushed by their enemies into the rainforest. The Kota then settle in the valley of the Ogooué river in current day Gabon
At the boundary of Gabon, Cameroun and the current Congos, magic and funerary practices have generated masterpieces. In their search for perfect beauty, Kota and Kwele artists sought to express a relationship with the afterlife.
The Emboli mask is a spirit of the forest used in the initiation of the boys, including circumcision. It appears as an amplified human head with some features of the dominant male animals of the equatorial forest such as the gorilla represented by its voluminous sagittal crest.
One of these masks, 42 cm high, has a very stylized moon face, colored in the left side in red to represent birth, initiation and life while the right side is white for evoking ancestors and afterlife.
Its geographical origin is lost. This ancient mask had surfaced in Paris when it was sold to the designer and tastemaker Jacques Doucet by the specialized dealer Paul Guillaume. Doucet kept it in his home beside Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon. It later triggered the passion of Michel Périnet for African art.
It was sold by Christie's on June 23, 2021 for € 3.26M from a lower estimate of € 300K, lot 12 in the sale of the Périnet collection. It is featured on a plinth by Kichizo Inagaki.
At the boundary of Gabon, Cameroun and the current Congos, magic and funerary practices have generated masterpieces. In their search for perfect beauty, Kota and Kwele artists sought to express a relationship with the afterlife.
The Emboli mask is a spirit of the forest used in the initiation of the boys, including circumcision. It appears as an amplified human head with some features of the dominant male animals of the equatorial forest such as the gorilla represented by its voluminous sagittal crest.
One of these masks, 42 cm high, has a very stylized moon face, colored in the left side in red to represent birth, initiation and life while the right side is white for evoking ancestors and afterlife.
Its geographical origin is lost. This ancient mask had surfaced in Paris when it was sold to the designer and tastemaker Jacques Doucet by the specialized dealer Paul Guillaume. Doucet kept it in his home beside Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon. It later triggered the passion of Michel Périnet for African art.
It was sold by Christie's on June 23, 2021 for € 3.26M from a lower estimate of € 300K, lot 12 in the sale of the Périnet collection. It is featured on a plinth by Kichizo Inagaki.
Ngil Mask
1
2006 SOLD for € 5.9M by Enchères Rive Gauche
In the deep forest, individuals may try to take advantage of the credulity of others. Some natural phenomena and diseases remain unexplained. To face such situations, the Fang from Gabon had a secret brotherhood with initiatory recruitment, the Ngil, acting both as police and justice.
To terrorize the evil-doers, the Ngil members were busy at night with much noise. To avoid being identified with an individual from the community, the dancer wore a helmet mask. Of course this practice soon became incompatible with the colonial administration and very few of these masks were preserved.
The Ngil mask shows a very elongated face whose features are refined. The prominent eyebrows join the bridge of the nose. The eyes are reduced to small slits and the mouth is minimized or absent. To accentuate their nocturnal power while evoking the livid world of spirits, they were whitened with kaolin. When examples were brought in Europe, they influenced modern art including Modigliani.
With an exceptional preservation of its white kaolin crust, the mask from the Vérité collection was sold for € 5.9M by Enchères Rive Gauche on June 17, 2006.
On October 30, 2018, Christie's sold for € 2.4M as lot 98 another Ngil mask which has preserved a very long and abundant hair, a small raffia beard and scarifications in the shape of a double arrow on both temples.
On the opposite, the mask sold for € 930K by Christie's on December 13, 2011 had been used without a coating.
The Fang Ngil mask from the Périnet collection was sold for € 2.54M by Christie's on June 23, 2021, lot 28.
To terrorize the evil-doers, the Ngil members were busy at night with much noise. To avoid being identified with an individual from the community, the dancer wore a helmet mask. Of course this practice soon became incompatible with the colonial administration and very few of these masks were preserved.
The Ngil mask shows a very elongated face whose features are refined. The prominent eyebrows join the bridge of the nose. The eyes are reduced to small slits and the mouth is minimized or absent. To accentuate their nocturnal power while evoking the livid world of spirits, they were whitened with kaolin. When examples were brought in Europe, they influenced modern art including Modigliani.
With an exceptional preservation of its white kaolin crust, the mask from the Vérité collection was sold for € 5.9M by Enchères Rive Gauche on June 17, 2006.
On October 30, 2018, Christie's sold for € 2.4M as lot 98 another Ngil mask which has preserved a very long and abundant hair, a small raffia beard and scarifications in the shape of a double arrow on both temples.
On the opposite, the mask sold for € 930K by Christie's on December 13, 2011 had been used without a coating.
The Fang Ngil mask from the Périnet collection was sold for € 2.54M by Christie's on June 23, 2021, lot 28.
2
2022 SOLD for € 5.25M by Hôtel des Ventes Montpellier
A Fang Ngil mask had been collected around 1917 by a civil administrator of the Afrique Occidentale Française. It resurfaced from an attic after more than one hundred years in oblivion in a military trunk.
This specimen 55 cm high in cheese wood, kaolin, woven rattan and fabric is specially remarkable by the conservation of its very long raffia fiber beard. Its beautiful craftsmanship makes it one of the best amidst about twelve surviving Ngil masks.
Consigned from the descendants of the French officer, it was sold for € 5.25M on March 26, 2022 by Hôtel des Ventes Montpellier, lot 92. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This specimen 55 cm high in cheese wood, kaolin, woven rattan and fabric is specially remarkable by the conservation of its very long raffia fiber beard. Its beautiful craftsmanship makes it one of the best amidst about twelve surviving Ngil masks.
Consigned from the descendants of the French officer, it was sold for € 5.25M on March 26, 2022 by Hôtel des Ventes Montpellier, lot 92. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
