Highlights of the Woolley & Wallis Tribal art and Antiquities Sale 9/2/2016
A short account of some items that reached above the estimates at the sale:
A Pre Columbian Veracruz seated figure of a warrior: Hammer Price £ 3,200, Estimate £300 – 500
Description: Lot 13- A Veracruz seated figure of a warrior, wearing a headdress with large pierced ear lobes, his chest and forearms with applied rondels and wearing arm bands and sandals, with a bitumen finish, 43cm high.
The first item to hit any significant amount above estimate was this superb Argillite pipe: hammer price £8000, Estimate £800-1200
Description: Lot 27-A Haida carved argillite and bone ~pipe~ panel modelled as a boat with the captain holding a megaphone at the prow with tobacco leaves with railings and pitched roof buildings one with remains of glass and with two seated figures 37.5 cm long.
A Bambara Chi Wara antelope headdress: Hammer Price £ 2,200, Estimate £400 – 600
Description: Lot 97- A Bambara antelope headdress, Chi Wara, Mali, wood with carved decoration, the main figure with brass stud eyes, twisted wire earrings and a native repair at base of neck, 59.5cm high.
Shona head rest: Hammer Price: £5000 Estimate £1500-2000
Description: Lot 322_A Shona headrest, Zimbabwe, with a dished rest with end lifts carved differing lozenge design, on a twin support with central oblong shape carved lozenges and linear decoration, on a twin flared base, 14cm high, 12.5cm wide.
A kamba stool Kenya Hammer price £3400. Estimate £300-400
Description: Lot 323-A fine Kamba stool, Kenya, carved wood with brass mounts, the top inlaid copper and brass wirework, on three shaped legs with incised lines to all but one side and all pierced and with a link chain, 15.5cm high.
A South African snuff club £4600 , Estimate£150-250
Description: Lot 330 -A South African anthropomorphic snuff kerrie club, carved two animals standing on each others feet, both with stoppers, on a tapering shaft, 64.5cm long.
A Fiji carved throwing club: Hammer price £1500, Estimate £150 – 250
Lot 422- A hardwood throwing club, with all over zigzag carving, probably Fiji, 32.5cm long.
Description: lot 462-A New Britain / New Ireland mask, with a pierced and carved crest and moulded face with inset operculum shell eyes, with red, blue and white pigment finish and the back with remains of fibre attachment bindings, 30cm high, on a stand. Provenance Sotheby’s, London, 23rd June 1981, Lot 68.
Description: Lot 464-A Fiji totokia, with a tapering spike to an oval head with six rows of barbs and incised line decoration, on an angled shaft with an unusual carved grip of zig zags and crescents, 80cm long. Provenance Stanley J Weyman, 7 August 1855 – 10 April 1928, Novelist, and thence by family decent.
A Maori wahaika, hand club Hammer Price £ 4,400, Estimate £400 – 600
Description: Lot 527-A Maori wahaika, hand club, carved wood with a mask to the inside edge and with faint carving to the terminal, with suspension hole, 19th century, 38cm long.
Surprisingly several star lots went unsold:
A Chokwe Boar mask: Estimate: £10,000 – 15,000- UNSOLD
Description: Lot 312- A Chokwe boar mask, D.R.Congo, with an open mouth and rounded snout, with carved curved lines above, the sides with circular geometric carvings, pierced shallow semi circular eyes and pointed ears, the fibre and hair coiffure with beads, 40cm high, Provenance:Galerie Ratton Hourde, Paris,Dr Gaud, St Tropez.
Cover Lot: A African tribal Dan Mask Estimate: £4,000 – 6,000 UNSOLD
Description: Lot 234- A Dan mask, Ivory Coast, with a concave face with pursed lips and aluminum teeth, pierced eyes with molded eyelids, the face framed by three molded lines with a plaited fibre coiffure, the ears pierced and with aluminum rings, 25cm high. Provenance Sotheby’s, London, June 1981, Lot 144.
