Gabon: a Fang mask sold for 4.2 million euros at auction
The Fang mask auctioned in Montpellier dates from the 19th century.
It would be that of a secret society.
AFP - PASCAL GUYOT
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
A Fang mask, from Gabon and dating from the 19th century, was sold on Saturday March 26 for 4.2 million euros (excluding costs).
A price that is close to the record of 5.9 million euros reached by another mask of the Fang people in Paris in 2006. The sale took place in Montpellier, in the south of France, in the presence of a small group of Gabonese, who came to protest and demand their return to their country of origin.
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It is a carved wooden Fang mask, 55 centimeters high.
A very rare object
because there are only ten of this type in the world, according to the auctioneer of the sale on Saturday.
A dozen bidders took part.
It was finally acquired by telephone at a price that greatly exceeds the initial estimate, which was 300,000 to 400,000 euros.
The sale took place under the protests of a small group in the back of the room.
"
It's a concealment
," exclaimed a man, who introduced himself as a member of the Gabonese community of Montpellier.
He was accompanied by a few other people.
“
We are going to file a complaint.
Our ancestors, my ancestors from the Fang community, we are going to
recover this object
”, he continued, referring to a “
colonial ill-gotten good
”.
The group left the room calmly, accompanied by the security service.
According to the auctioneer, the mask, which belonged to the secret society of Ngil, was collected around 1917 by the French colonial governor René-Victor Edward Maurice Fournier, probably during a tour of Gabon.
He was found in an attic by his descendants, at the time of the sale of a family property, in the south-west of France.
► Also to listen: Restitution of African works of art: "What is important is to create a legal framework"
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