Sotheby's New york November 2006
Africa, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art
Sotheby's
African art department
1334 York Avenue at 72nd St
New York, New York 10021
USA Tel: (212) 606-7000
A Maya Shell Pendant, Late Classic, ca. A.D.
550-950, of unusual and evocative form (est. $15/25,000).
17
Nov 06 The William W. Brill Collection of African Art [N08287]Browse
Catalogue (needs registration) or Event
Details
17
Nov 06 African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art [N08246] various collections Browse
Catalogue (needs registration) or Event
Details
found at artdaily
nov 06
NEOn November
17th, 2006, Sotheby’s will hold its fall various-owners sale of African,
Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art, featuring a number of private collections,
including approximately 80 lots originally in the collection of the English
artist Jacob Epstein, 70 lots from the late New York collector Carol Meyer and a
number of works from the Collection of Josephine & Walter Buhl Ford II.
Property from the sale will be on exhibition in Sotheby’s 6th floor galleries
from November 12th through 16th, and the sale is expected to bring $2.3/3.4
million. A separate press release is available for The William W. Brill
Collection of African Art, to also take place on November 17th.
Highlighting Sotheby's fall various-owners sale of African, Oceanic and
Pre-Columbian art are 80 lots from an important private European collection.
Included in this offering is a pair of large Inca silver figures, ca. A.D.
1450-1532 (est. $15/20,000 and $10/15,000), a pair of superb Marquesas Islands
figures, formerly in the collection of Ambroise Vollard and published among
others in Carl Einstein’s 1917 ‘Negerplastik’ and Paul Guillaume’s
‘Sculptures Negres’ (est. $150/250,000), and a superb Fang reliquary Head,
formerly in collection of André Derain (est. $250/350,000). The majority of
works were acquired from the collection of Jacob Epstein (d. 1956), who along
with Henry Moore was one of the preeminent British sculptors of the early 20th
century. Epstein, similar to Picasso or the Fauvists – especially Matisse,
Derain and Vlaminck – began collecting African art around 1905, well before it
attracted art dealers and private collectors. It was during his visits to Paris
in the early years that he discovered this form of art. The formal
characteristics were to become a determining factor in his artistic career,
providing a source of inspiration for his future work. Later Epstein made his
first purchase from Joseph Brummer, one of the first Parisian dealers in African
and Oceanic art. He expanded his collection throughout his life, especially in
the 1930s. During these years, he bought from Louis Carré and Charles Ratton,
and in London from Webster, as well as from auction sales such as the famous
Walter Brody Collection sold at Sotheby’s London in 1930. In 1960 the Arts
Council of Great Britain exhibited a large portion of the eclectic Epstein
collection in London: “The Epstein Collection of Primitive and Exotic
Sculpture”.
Also on offer is a superb Senufo rhythm pounder, used by the Senufo tribe of the
Ivory Coast during funeral ceremonies. This highly important statue is
distinguished from other objects of its kind by a remarkable sculptural motion.
The body rotates inward in two opposing directions, creating a tension between
upper and lower halves and resolving in a dynamic unified form. This
bidirectional composition is juxtaposed with a cubistic set of shapes that
converge in a powerful female body. Acquired in 1969 from the renowned dealer
Harry Franklin of Beverly Hills, the sculpture has remained with a single owner
until its current emergence onto the market (pictured on page 1, est.
$150/250,000).
Another cornerstone of the sale is an important Fang Reliquary Guardian Figure,
with powerful body and pious countenance. A glossy oil patina on the face
attests that this sculpture was the object of countless libation ceremonies
performed in connection with the Byeri cult. Owned by the seminal dealer Paul
Guillaume and the Impressionist painter Maurice de Vlaminck, the sculpture was
among the first African artworks to be unveiled to the American public, when it
was exhibited in 1933 in New York -- alongside Modern art -- during the
formative exhibition, Paintings of André Derain and Sculptures of Gabon, at the
Durand-Ruel Gallery (est. $100/150,000).
From the Oceanic section is a rare Pentecost face mask that was collected at the
end of the 19th century by Reverend Morton, a prominent missionary throughout
Polynesia. Anthropomorphic in its features, the mask exudes enigmatic
iconography: a very narrow face is bisected by a protruding crescent nose, while
fin-like extensions flank deep hollow eyes. A thin horizontal almond shaped rim
indicates the mouth and stands in contrast with a diagonal axis connecting the
eyes, evoking an uncanny, almost hypnotic expression. The early collecting
history, the archaic style and the almost petrified appearance of the wood
suggest that this is one of the oldest, possibly archetypal instances of its
kind - a speculation supported by C-14 dating this mask to the 17th/18th century
(est. $60/90,000).
In the Pre-Columbian section, the sale will feature approximately 70 lots from
the late New York collector Carol Meyer, including a Maya Shell Pendant, Late
Classic, ca. A.D. 550-950, of unusual and evocative form (est. $15/25,000). The
slender face tapers into an openwork disc of a woven design, a symbol of royalty
and authority. The overall design serves as a sculptural version of a Maya
‘speech scroll’, signifying the importance of the wearer of such an
ornament. This pendant was exhibited at the Hillwood Art Museum of Long Island
University in 1997 in the exhibition Conchas Precolombianas: Mesoamerican Art
Created From Seashells.
From a section of lots from the Collection of Josephine & Walter Buhl Ford
II is a Mezcala Stone figure, Type M24, Late Preclassic, ca. 300-100 B.C., of
large and strong proportions with distinctive openwork arms (est. $20/30,000),
and a Chontal Stone Mask, Late Preclassic, ca. 300-100 B.C., which was most
likely attached to burial bundles. Of large rectangular form, with
characteristic pierced mouth and eyes, the face is sculpted with prominent cheek
bones, grooves accenting the cheeks and with projecting brows, a small
‘horn’ on the forehead, the tapering ear flanges in speckled green-gray
diorite (est. $10/20,000). The Ford section also includes two fine Sican gold
beakers, one embossed with frogs in high relief, originally acquired in 1965
from the New York dealer/ collector Allan Caplan.
