Ekeomah Atuonwu
A 19th-century carved mask from Central Africa has been sold for $4.6 million in France, despite Gabonese protesters in the auction house demanding the item’s “restitution.”
“It’s a case of receiving stolen goods,” a man identifying himself as a member of Montpellier’s Gabonese community exclaimed from the back of the auction room, surrounded by half a dozen compatriots.
“We’ll file a formal complaint. Our ancestors, my ancestors from the Fang community, we will recover this object.”
The protestor called the mask a “colonial ill-gotten gain.”
The rare wooden “Ngil” mask, used in ceremonies by Gabon’s Fang ethnic people, shattered its estimate of $330,000 – $430,000 at an auction in Montpellier, southern France.
According to auctioneer Jean-Christophe Giuseppi, the auction was “completely legal” as far as he was aware.
The demonstrators left the auction hall calmly, accompanied by security guards, but continued their protest against the sale of African works of art.
A Congolese chair was sold for $48,300 at the auction the same day.
With additional costs and fees, the successful bidder paid $5.76 million for the Fang mask, which is close to a record for such an item.
A similar Fang mask fetched $6.48 million at a Paris auction in 2006.
French President Emmanuel Macron had in the past commissioned a report that the artifacts plundered from sub-Saharan Africa during the colonial era should be returned through permanent restitution.
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