Highlights African and Oceanic Art

Following the appointment of Fatma Wille to the European team, this sale will now include a robust selection of works covering the principal Pre-Columbian cultures. These ancient objects, dating from 2300 B.C. to 900 A.D., can be mainly traced back to the Olmec, Maya, Veracruz, Valdivia and Andes civilisations. Among the leading pieces from the Maya civilisation is an emerald-green Mayan jade plate dating from approximately 550-950 A.D. adorned with a series of deciphered glyphs. In 1987, it was exhibited at the Denver Art Museum and at the National Museum of Women in the Arts of Washington, D.C. Further highlights include a Mayan bowl crafted in 350 A.D., featuring a complex mythological scene of one of the principal Mayan divinities, which was shown at an exhibition at the Arts Club of Chicago in 1982. Among other masterpieces, a stone yoke from Veracruz which is finely sculpted with a cosmic being in a dynamic pose, circa 450-650 A.D., comes from a prestigious European collection.

Pre-Columbian Art Highlights

As a primary subject in art, the representation of animals bears witness to the importance of this ancestral relationship between animals and humans across all art forms, countries and periods. Since prehistoric times, animals have been a major source of inspiration and creativity for artists. Wild or domesticated, real or imaginary, depictions of animals can be found in all civilizations, this omnipresence an illustration of the strength of their symbolic charge.

Animals 

Paris

Deputy Director | Head of Department African & Oceanic Art

Pierre Mollfulleda

Vice President | Head of Department

Alexander Grogan

Specialist

Simon Meynen

Assistant Vice President, Specialist

Paul Lewis

Consultant, Pre-Columbian Art

Fatma Wille

Consultant

Stacy Goodman

Pre-Sale Experience Coordinator, 20th Century Design

Elisa Gaillot

Department Assistant

Camille Hamant

Meet our Specialists

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For the upcoming auction of art from Africa, Oceania, Indonesia, and the Americas in Paris, Sotheby’s is delighted to combine the expertise of its specialists from France and the United States to present collectors with a carefully curated selection of objects. Following the appointment of Fatma Wille to the European team, this sale will now include a robust selection of works covering the principal Pre-Columbian cultures. The African and Oceanic Arts section will feature a delicate Nguzu-Nguzu figurehead from the Salomon Islands collected by Paul Stover Wingert; a substantial Gabonese Fang statue that belonged to Aimé Maeght, visible in a photo of their Parisian apartment; and a precious, exceedingly rare Sapi-Portuguese salt cellar from Sierra Leone that was kept in the same Italian collection for more than forty years. 

Art d'Afrique, d'Océanie, d'Indonésie et des Amériques