Auction 1241 - A Mediator to the Spirit World Discovered

Around ten years ago, a discovery of Pacific art caused a sensation: Numerous and exceptionally well documented Korwar were found in the estate of a Dutch teacher. He had acquired the precious pieces from a missionary who in turn had collected them at the start of the 20th century and labelled them with rare precision. Presented here is the Korwar due to be auctioned at Lempertz in Brussels on 31st January (lot 175, estimate 15/20,000), an example from the southern coast of the island of Biak in Cenderawasih Bay in eastern Indonesia. Korwar represent ancestral figures, are considered mediators to the spirit world, and are particularly called upon in the fight against disease. The world’s most important museums hold such objects in their collections, and one outstanding example is now to be auctioned in Brussels.

Also from the Cenderawasih Bay is an artistically carved headrest (lot 171), with an estimate of 10 – 12,000 euro. 

A particularly rare example of traditional African art is a Tetela mask from the Democratic Republic of Congo (lot 86, estimate € 4/6,000) and is one of comparably few such pieces known worldwide. A mask in the Barbier Mueller Museum in Geneva comes very close, whilst another example was auctioned also at Lempertz in Brussels last February (result € 18,750).

A special object from the Songye-Sanga, also from the Democratic republic of Congo, is not made of wood, but of iron. The axe (lot 59, estimate € 20/30,000) is one of only a few such weapons known to exist. Two can be found in the great Africa Museum in Tervuren near Brussels, a third in the Barbier Mueller Museum in Geneva, and a similar example in Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam. With a blade measuring 49.5 cm, the axe coming up for auction in Brussels is one of the largest known of its kind.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at 0221/92 57 29–57.

Jan Bykowski
Press and public relations
info@lempertz.com