THERE was a world record for a sale of Oceanic Art at Sotheby’s in Paris this week. The auction of the collection of 49 works from Canadian Murray Frum achieved 7.53 million. There were world records for an Uli memorial figure from New Ireland and a Maori statue from New Zealand. They sold for 1.6 million and 1.4 million respectively. Three works made over one million and 14 sold for over 100,000 in a auction that ws 100 per cent sold.
The ancestral carving of a powerful clan leader from New Ireland includes a rare secondary character and once belonged to the Swiss surrealist painter and sculptor Serge Brignoni. The head of a staff god from Raratonga in the Cook Islands made 1.2 million.
Ancestor figure, uli
Northern New Ireland
SOLD: 1,609,500€
Figure Pou whakairo
Maori, New Zealand SOLD: 1,441,500€