Heritage Auction Focuses on Treasures of African and Oceanic Art!

DALLAS, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries will present an important auction of fine African and Oceanic art in Dallas, Texas on June 7, 2007. Featured will be pieces from Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Liberia, the Ivory Coast, Gabon, Cameroon, Papua-New Guinea, and more.

"What becomes immediately apparent to anyone viewing the extraordinary range of pieces being offered is the inexhaustible variety of inventiveness, exuberant to frightening, possessed by the peoples who made these objects for purposes central to their own ways of life," said Dr. Edmund P. Pillsbury, Chairman of Fine Arts for Heritage. "These were not just decor; these were power, position, and effective action."

"Two large collections, those of H. Bruce Greene II and family and of Gary Hendershott, form the principal components of Heritage's first African and Oceanic Art auction," Pillsbury continued. "To these have been added further consignments, many obtained through the insightful good efforts of James Willis of San Francisco. In preparing the catalogue of this heterogeneous group of sculptures, objects of use, and textiles, Heritage was given invaluable support by Dr. Herbert M. Cole, who wrote over one hundred catalogue entries, and by Research Assistant Mary Brinker, who kept the entire project in shape."

"There are a number of exquisite pieces in this auction," said John Lunsford, Senior Expert, Fine Art for Heritage and curator emeritus of the Dallas Museum of Art, "perhaps none more so than the incredible figure that graces our catalog cover. It was chosen to be the cover image because it represents, with a qualitatively top level example, the oldest developed sub-Saharan African art tradition, Nok, named for a site in northeastern Nigeria. These highly sculptural, fired ceramic pieces date ca. 500 B. C. - A. D. 400. They must have been made for important ritual and social reasons, but without written history and with scant archaeology, we cannot say exactly what."

Heritage's African and Oceanic Art auction will be held live in Dallas, Texas, on June 7, 2007. For more information, please visit www.HA.com/FineArt.

Nok (Nigeria)
Male Half Figure with Crossed Arms
Ceramic
Height: 9 inches
ESTIMATE: $80,000 - $120,000

Yoruba (Nigeria)
Rare Table-form Altar with Human Figure Supports
Wood, pigment, metal, beads
Length: 28 inches
An exceptionally rare Yoruba table-form altar supported by eight standing male and female figures. The type itself is extremely rare and would have had a central shrine function in a highly important shrine. The carving quality of the figures is of the finest in a style that functioned in both royal and religious contexts among the Yoruba, still the largest and among the most sophisticated of African ethnic entities. The sculpture was almost certainly done in the late nineteenth century, early for vulnerable wood sculpture. An unusual amount of original color remains.
ESTIMATE: $35,000 - $50,000

Urhobo (Nigeria)
Mother and Child Shrine Figure
Wood, pigment
Height: 60 inches Width: 15 inches Depth: 15 inches
This heroically scaled mother-and-child comes from a community altar, where it represented a founding ancestor. The heroic shape and rather ferocious appearance indicate that women can and do have power and influence in the society. The shapes have been remade to create rhythms that made a dynamic statement asserting the ancestral woman's position.
ESTIMATE: $20,000 - $25,000

Songe (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Ceremonial Axe (kilonda)
Steel, copper, wood
Height: 13 inches Length: 22 inches
This is a ceremonial axe that embodies one of the most exceptional examples known of traditional African wrought iron work. What makes it especially rare and unusual is the added, slightly moveable full human figure. Axes of this elaborate nature were marks of high prestige and rank.
ESTIMATE: $38,000 - $50,000

Kenyah/Kayan Dayak (Kalimantan)
Two Shields
1) Wood, pigment, hair
Height: 46 1/8 inches Width: 14 inches
2) Wood, pigment, hair, rattan
Height: 46 inches Width: 13 inches
In the greater Pacific world, which includes the islands Indonesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia, shields were a practical necessity that also functioned as bearers of images that projected culturally-charged messages of prestige, protective forces at work, and each male's forcefulness. The pair of shields in this lot, from the Indonesian Dayak peoples, have both sides covered with intricate painted imagery of mythic creatures, which are intended simultaneously to terrify the enemy and empower the bearer of the shield. The two shields below are from differing groups on the very large island of New Guinea, and together give a sense of the range of design and structure found in the considerable group of New Guinea shields which forms an important component of this auction.
ESTIMATE: $12,000 - $15,000

Oceanic: Papua-New Guinea
Middle Ramu or Pora Pora Rivers
War Shield
Wood, pigment
Height: 34 inches Width: 18 inches
ESTIMATE: $1,500 - $2,000

Mendi Valley (Papua-New Guinea)
War Shield (Wörrumbi)
Wood, pigment, vine
Height: 54 inches Width: 21 inches
ESTIMATE: $3,000 - $4,000

Oceanic: Papua-New Guinea
Middle Sepik River
Model Cult House
Bamboo, rattan, dried fungus or seed, fiber, traces of pigment
Height: 27 inches Width: 17 inches Length: 30 inches
This auction also includes a number of unusual and extremely special pieces for starting collectors. One of particular charm is this indigenously made model of a ceremonial men's house from the central Sepik River of New Guinea. These houses were centers of male religious, cultural, and social activity in strongly male-focused societies.
ESTIMATE: $3,000 - $5,000

For more information about Heritage's auctions, and a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit www.HA.com.

Prospective consignors and sellers of fine and decorative arts are invited to www.HA.com/Sell. Or simply email FineArt@HA.com or call (800) 872-6467 extension 444.

To reserve your copy of any Heritage auction catalogue, please contact Client Services at (800) 872-6467, extension 150, or visit www.HA.com/Catalog to order by email.