Ethnographica & Tribal Art

One of the star lots at an auction of African and Oceanic works of art held by Zemanek-Münster (25% buyer’s premium) in Würzburg was a dance mask of the Telei people in the Buin district of Bougainville, one of the Solomon Islands.

A tribal art sale held by Lempertz (26/20% buyer’s premium) in Brussels earlier this year was led by an exceptional nkisi nkondi figure. Guided at €70,000-80,000, it hammered at €320,000 (£264,500).

The Cotswold Art & Antiques Dealers’ Association (CADA) held its first London fair - Cotswold Art Antiques Chelsea - at Chelsea Old Town Hall on the King’s Road from March 20-23.

Before independence in 1947, the Naga hill tribes of north-east India were considered an exotic society, radically different in culture and beliefs from the better-known Hindu peoples of the plains and renowned for their fierce resistance to British rule.

The Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on February 19 included this striking tribal mask from central Africa.

The core of the December 10 Out of Europe sale at the Cardiff rooms of Rogers Jones (22% buyer’s premium) was formed by the collection of Miss Annie Elizabeth Tookey.

Alabaster fragments from old Alexandria, a small box of gold from Australia, dried seaweed from the Gulf of Florida and Oceanic tribal artefacts.

Themed exhibitions at this year’s Parcours des Mondes link ethnographic art with Surrealist movement

Late last year auctioneer and valuer Mark Huddleston received three images of a chief’s staff or pole club along with an ‘is this worth anything’ enquiry. The vendor had inherited it from his family who (by repute) had done Presbyterian missionary work in Polynesia in the 19th century.

A Polynesian ladle surfaced in a Derbyshire saleroom, selling for nearly five-times its £500-700 estimate.

Ian Shaw is a specialist in tribal art and his recent projects include enhancing the gallery room of his Glasgow premises.

An early 20th century carving by Lagos pastor and artist Thomas Ona of a district commissioner is among the works available at this month’s Tribal Art Fair online.

Cologne auction house Lempertz (25% buyer’s premium) opened its auction year with a sale of African and Oceanic works of art in Brussels.

The Barbier-Mueller family is well known as a collecting dynasty, especially for its ethnographic art.

A 19th century Native American wolf mask, once used in religious ceremonies on the Northwest coast, emerged from the obscurity of a £50-100 estimate to bring £14,000 at auction in Hertfordshire.

An 18th century Native American trade axe pipe linked to the great Shawnee chief and warrior Tecumseh (1768-1813) was the runaway performer when the collection of Ohio dealer and entrepreneur Bruce Knight was dispersed in the first days of the New Year.