Tropical Africa
Fang Head (Gabon)
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 state 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 at that time, 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 state 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 at that time, 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.
Christie's @ChristiesInc @christiesparis SOLD for € 14.8M the #BarbierMueller Fang reliquary headhttps://t.co/q3hBaBzNuJ
— ArtHitParade (@ArtHitParade) March 6, 2024
to be soon narrated as the Top 1 in Tropical Africa and #Gabon https://t.co/ApuSqnJw1xhttps://t.co/TQosOEYeia
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.
Kongo Nail Fetish (Congo)
2024 SOLD for € 9M by Christie's
A n'kondi, meaning hunter, is a fetish with a powerful anthropomorphic body and face. The nkisi n'kondi variant is covered with nails arranged around a ball of magic medicine. It was made by the Kongo Yombe ethnic group in the Congo region in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
That incarnation of the spirit of the dead provides a peaceful power, protecting the tribe against evil spirits and diseases. Nails are not intended to protect the figure but to implement the peace agreements between tribal groups. The right arm is raised for holding a spear.
The nkisi n'kindi from the Barbier-Mueller collection had been collected before 1914. It is 96 cm high, with protruding nails. The huge mouth is screaming within an otherwise realistically carved face. The attitude is considered as royal by specialists. It was sold for € 9M by Christie's on March 6, 2024, lot 45.
The 95 cm high example formerly in the Vérité collection was sold for € 730K by Christie's on June 27, 2018, lot 92. The head is pierced to keep the medicine, in addition to two reliquaries amidst the nails embedded in a coating on the belly.
The 87 cm high example from the Yoyotte collection was sold for € 1.96M by Christie's on June 29, 2022, lot 3. The nails are protruding.
In all the above examples, the spear was omitted or is missing.
That incarnation of the spirit of the dead provides a peaceful power, protecting the tribe against evil spirits and diseases. Nails are not intended to protect the figure but to implement the peace agreements between tribal groups. The right arm is raised for holding a spear.
The nkisi n'kindi from the Barbier-Mueller collection had been collected before 1914. It is 96 cm high, with protruding nails. The huge mouth is screaming within an otherwise realistically carved face. The attitude is considered as royal by specialists. It was sold for € 9M by Christie's on March 6, 2024, lot 45.
The 95 cm high example formerly in the Vérité collection was sold for € 730K by Christie's on June 27, 2018, lot 92. The head is pierced to keep the medicine, in addition to two reliquaries amidst the nails embedded in a coating on the belly.
The 87 cm high example from the Yoyotte collection was sold for € 1.96M by Christie's on June 29, 2022, lot 3. The nails are protruding.
In all the above examples, the spear was omitted or is missing.
Luba (Congo)
1
Mask
2021 SOLD for € 7.2M by Christie's
Malembe-Nkulu is a region in south Congo, now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo just north from Zambia.
A Luba mask from that region is classified as a beast-man mask by some specialists. Less than 10 examples are surviving. They were for the use of the leaders in the initiation rituals. He would have the applicant inhale a medicine to make him faint, simulating death.
The tight pattern of scarifications on the forehead and below the eyes was also directly painted on the skin of other attendants. They were certainly influenced by the Zambian Tshokwe.
A Malembe-Nkulu Luba mask 51 cm high was sold for € 7.2M from a lower estimate of € 1.5M by Christie's on June 23, 2021, lot 43 from the Périnet collection. It is enhanced by white kaolin in the chiseled pattern. The patina is superb. The face expression with protruding eyebrows and severe mouth is both authoritative and benevolent.
A Luba mask from that region is classified as a beast-man mask by some specialists. Less than 10 examples are surviving. They were for the use of the leaders in the initiation rituals. He would have the applicant inhale a medicine to make him faint, simulating death.
The tight pattern of scarifications on the forehead and below the eyes was also directly painted on the skin of other attendants. They were certainly influenced by the Zambian Tshokwe.
A Malembe-Nkulu Luba mask 51 cm high was sold for € 7.2M from a lower estimate of € 1.5M by Christie's on June 23, 2021, lot 43 from the Périnet collection. It is enhanced by white kaolin in the chiseled pattern. The patina is superb. The face expression with protruding eyebrows and severe mouth is both authoritative and benevolent.
2
Bow Stand by the Warua Master
2015 SOLD for £ 6.1M by Christie's
The Luba lived in the vast region between the Congo River and Lake Tanganyika. Their monarchy was centralized and powerful. Around 1900 their royal art began to be studied, enabling to identify the creations of two artists who probably lived in the time of the height of that empire a few decades earlier.
The continuous movement of the tribes has a consequence that African art is not local but mixed with neighboring influences. The two leading artists whose figuration is very different have also a Hemba influence.
Both executed altogether fetishes and utilitarian objects for royal ceremonies such as caryatid seats and cups, and bow stands. This duality explains the regular proportions in the body whose geometry is perfectly balanced without being realistic.
The figures are often a woman or a mixed janus. The fetishes are related to spirits whose incorporation into a woman's body is likened to a pregnancy.
The increasingly detailed knowledge of the masterpieces of African art allows to group some figures. The corpus from the Warua Master from the Luba ethnic group includes altogether four bow stands, two stools and three statuettes. One of them was given in 1902 or 1903 to an explorer by the chief of a village on the Luvua river in Congo.
The Warua Master is probably one artist because of the similarity of the faces in the works collected under that name which is no more than a bad old phonetic for Luba or Baluba.
On July 9, 2015, Christie's sold for £ 6.1M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M one of the four bow stands, lot 110. The female figure with pointed breasts has a striking resemblance with the male statuette discussed above with regard to the attitude, the proportions in the body, the shape of the head and the facial lines. Perched on a small pedestal, she wears on her head a carved trident that can hold the bows. The total height of this piece is 64 cm.
The other leading Luba artist is the Buli Master.
The continuous movement of the tribes has a consequence that African art is not local but mixed with neighboring influences. The two leading artists whose figuration is very different have also a Hemba influence.
Both executed altogether fetishes and utilitarian objects for royal ceremonies such as caryatid seats and cups, and bow stands. This duality explains the regular proportions in the body whose geometry is perfectly balanced without being realistic.
The figures are often a woman or a mixed janus. The fetishes are related to spirits whose incorporation into a woman's body is likened to a pregnancy.
The increasingly detailed knowledge of the masterpieces of African art allows to group some figures. The corpus from the Warua Master from the Luba ethnic group includes altogether four bow stands, two stools and three statuettes. One of them was given in 1902 or 1903 to an explorer by the chief of a village on the Luvua river in Congo.
The Warua Master is probably one artist because of the similarity of the faces in the works collected under that name which is no more than a bad old phonetic for Luba or Baluba.
On July 9, 2015, Christie's sold for £ 6.1M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M one of the four bow stands, lot 110. The female figure with pointed breasts has a striking resemblance with the male statuette discussed above with regard to the attitude, the proportions in the body, the shape of the head and the facial lines. Perched on a small pedestal, she wears on her head a carved trident that can hold the bows. The total height of this piece is 64 cm.
The other leading Luba artist is the Buli Master.
Last night this Luba figure sold for £6,130,50, the highest price for a work of African art at auction in the UK. pic.twitter.com/anPH0wpvV1
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) July 10, 20153
Caryatid Seat by the Master of Buli
2010 SOLD for € 5.4M by Sotheby's
A highly distinctive style of wooden sculpture was executed by the Luba in the Congo village of Buli and vicinity, in the borderline of the Hemba territories. This corpus includes about 20 works : cup holders, heads and statuettes of ancestors, caryatid seats and one headrest. Luba and hemba influences are more or less mingled.
The elusive Master of Buli may in fact apply to two or three different artists, subsequently or in a workshop. A beautifully carved one-caryatid stool was sold for € 5.4M by Sotheby's on November 30, 2010, lot 97. It is 51 cm high and 31 cm in diameter. The ochre wood keeps traces of an ancient patina.
The stool once served as ceremonial object most likely used by the council of elders when they presided over court cases in the Luba kingdom. It had been acquired in 1896 by Harry Bombeeck, a Belgian executive in the then EIC (Etat Indépendant du Congo) and kept in his family up to the Sotheby's auction.
It is one of the finest Buli achievements through its exquisite carving, especially to the oversized head and highly typed hemba face, and by the care on the details of the forward leaning torso, the inclined open palms, the four fingers posed delicately on the seat and the outspread thumb touching the luba quadrilobed headdress.
Another Congolese style, with a corpus of about 18 works, is identified as Le Maître de la Coiffure en Cascade. It also includes headrests, used by high ranked Luba women to sleep on its 17 cm high rest for preserving their spectacular and cumbersome hairstyle. One of them with an attitude of friendly conversation of two caryatids was sold for € 2.3M on December 15, 2016 by Millon, lot 40.
The elusive Master of Buli may in fact apply to two or three different artists, subsequently or in a workshop. A beautifully carved one-caryatid stool was sold for € 5.4M by Sotheby's on November 30, 2010, lot 97. It is 51 cm high and 31 cm in diameter. The ochre wood keeps traces of an ancient patina.
The stool once served as ceremonial object most likely used by the council of elders when they presided over court cases in the Luba kingdom. It had been acquired in 1896 by Harry Bombeeck, a Belgian executive in the then EIC (Etat Indépendant du Congo) and kept in his family up to the Sotheby's auction.
It is one of the finest Buli achievements through its exquisite carving, especially to the oversized head and highly typed hemba face, and by the care on the details of the forward leaning torso, the inclined open palms, the four fingers posed delicately on the seat and the outspread thumb touching the luba quadrilobed headdress.
Another Congolese style, with a corpus of about 18 works, is identified as Le Maître de la Coiffure en Cascade. It also includes headrests, used by high ranked Luba women to sleep on its 17 cm high rest for preserving their spectacular and cumbersome hairstyle. One of them with an attitude of friendly conversation of two caryatids was sold for € 2.3M on December 15, 2016 by Millon, lot 40.
Senufo Primordial Mother (Ivory Coast)
2014 SOLD for $ 12M by Sotheby's
The mythology of the Senufo people in Ivory Coast gives the leading role to the genesis. All human beings have a matrilineal link to the couple of primordial ancestors. The rites are held in every village by an initiatory society, the Poro.
This belief is embodied in statues that are used at both passages, puberty and death, as well as sanctuary ornaments. On November 11, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 12M a figure of the divine mother, 92 cm high, lot 48.
The Senufo artist who made this work did not wish to respect the proportions: the torso is very long and narrow and the legs are short, perhaps to be seen from below like a figure of El Greco. Instead, he expressed the mythic power by using geometry. For example, the ears are perfect circles, breasts are cones and eyebrows are a simple horizontal line.
The prominent navel resulting from the loss of the umbilical cord is the link that evokes fertility and creation. The line drawings adorning the bodies of the pubescent women are copied onto the statuette.
The ancient history of this piece is unknown, but comparisons may date its realization in the nineteenth century or early twentieth century. It would be a contemporary to the majestic Senufo primordial couple that was sold for $ 4M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2008.
This belief is embodied in statues that are used at both passages, puberty and death, as well as sanctuary ornaments. On November 11, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 12M a figure of the divine mother, 92 cm high, lot 48.
The Senufo artist who made this work did not wish to respect the proportions: the torso is very long and narrow and the legs are short, perhaps to be seen from below like a figure of El Greco. Instead, he expressed the mythic power by using geometry. For example, the ears are perfect circles, breasts are cones and eyebrows are a simple horizontal line.
The prominent navel resulting from the loss of the umbilical cord is the link that evokes fertility and creation. The line drawings adorning the bodies of the pubescent women are copied onto the statuette.
The ancient history of this piece is unknown, but comparisons may date its realization in the nineteenth century or early twentieth century. It would be a contemporary to the majestic Senufo primordial couple that was sold for $ 4M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2008.
Kota Reliquary Figure (Gabon)
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.
Baule Twin Mask (Ivory Ciast)
2024 SOLD for € 6.6M by Christie's
The Baule (Baoulé) from Ivory Coast used the abstract concept of duality as a mystical element for understanding the world. The duality takes many forms: man and woman, body and soul, the object and its shadow, the reflection, the confluence, the twins, and even the role of the ego in the community.
Unlike the Janus figures, the two faces are side by side. It is a real mask in which only the two central eyes are pierced to be used in that function. Its tribal name is nda. It is created by the artist on the occasion of a twin birth, probably as a unique piece that explains its great rarity. A dancer wore it in the presence of the real twins during festive celebrations.
The nda, or twin Baule mask, from the Barbier-Mueller collection was sold for € 6.6M by Christie's on March 6, 2024, lot 39. It had belonged to the Abidjan residing collector Roger Bédiat.
This beautifully sculpted 29 cm high mask features symmetrical faces, distinguished only by the hairstyles and the scarification marks, and by their color.
The Vérité collection included since the 1930s a double mask, sold for € 1.3M by Enchères Rive Gauche on 17 June 2006, lot 165 and for € 5.4M by Sotheby's on June 24, 2015, lot 26. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Both heads are identical in shape but differ in the location of scars, in the hair and in the color of the patina that has been partially preserved. It is indeed a male-female duality. The serene and wise attitude of the two heads confirms that the meaning is more philosophical than religious. This is not an emanation of the primordial couple.
An elegant Baoulé single mask was sold for € 2.04M by Christie's on June 22, 2023, lot 14. It displays a heart-shaped facial plane, a thin nose with slightly dilated nostrils, a contemplative gaze and a pinched mouth. The hairstyle holds back rows of tight braids. Three rows of scarifications on the temples and at the tip of the nose were used to identify the clan. The face is surmounted by a pretty antelope head with curved and ridged horns.
By comparison of style, this piece belongs to a group of four masks and about fifteen figures made in or around the village of Essankro. One of them is the two headed mask narrated above.
The only other known nda, ex Paul Guillaume, is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Unlike the Janus figures, the two faces are side by side. It is a real mask in which only the two central eyes are pierced to be used in that function. Its tribal name is nda. It is created by the artist on the occasion of a twin birth, probably as a unique piece that explains its great rarity. A dancer wore it in the presence of the real twins during festive celebrations.
The nda, or twin Baule mask, from the Barbier-Mueller collection was sold for € 6.6M by Christie's on March 6, 2024, lot 39. It had belonged to the Abidjan residing collector Roger Bédiat.
This beautifully sculpted 29 cm high mask features symmetrical faces, distinguished only by the hairstyles and the scarification marks, and by their color.
The Vérité collection included since the 1930s a double mask, sold for € 1.3M by Enchères Rive Gauche on 17 June 2006, lot 165 and for € 5.4M by Sotheby's on June 24, 2015, lot 26. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Both heads are identical in shape but differ in the location of scars, in the hair and in the color of the patina that has been partially preserved. It is indeed a male-female duality. The serene and wise attitude of the two heads confirms that the meaning is more philosophical than religious. This is not an emanation of the primordial couple.
An elegant Baoulé single mask was sold for € 2.04M by Christie's on June 22, 2023, lot 14. It displays a heart-shaped facial plane, a thin nose with slightly dilated nostrils, a contemplative gaze and a pinched mouth. The hairstyle holds back rows of tight braids. Three rows of scarifications on the temples and at the tip of the nose were used to identify the clan. The face is surmounted by a pretty antelope head with curved and ridged horns.
By comparison of style, this piece belongs to a group of four masks and about fifteen figures made in or around the village of Essankro. One of them is the two headed mask narrated above.
The only other known nda, ex Paul Guillaume, is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Fang Ngil Mask (Gabon)
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.
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. 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.
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.
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. 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.
