Tribal Art Sale at Sotheby's

Sotheby’s will hold its spring sale of art from Africa, Oceania, and the ancient Americas in New York on May 15. It will be led by a rare Pende helmet mask that was featured in the 1984 Primitivism show at MOMA. Also featured will be highlights from the New York estate of the late Helena Segy and, by extension, the personal collection of her noted husband, Ladislas Segy. Significant among these are a rare Ngbandi ivory spoon and an unusually early Kota reliquary. A large and fine Lobi couple from the collection of Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler and an Mbembe figure once owned by Georg Baselitz will also be offered. An unusual highlight of the sale is an extremely early Kanak stone figure from New Caledonia collected by the missionary Père Pierre Lambert between 1856 and 1863. 

View the online catalogue.

Male figure  -  Luba, D.R. Congo

Monumental head  -  Kanak, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea

Helmet mask  -  Luluwa, D. R. Congo

Male reliquary figure,  eyema byeri  -   Fang-Ntumu, Gabon

 Images courtesy of Sotheby's