PARIS.- Christie’s announced the sale of a selection of African and Oceanic works of art from the Adolphe Stoclet collection to be held on 30 October 2018. The thirty lots have been passed by descent within the family and never been on the market ever since their acquisition by their famous predecessor in the first decades of the 20th century.

International collectors will be discovering for the first time, treasures from the Democratic Republic of Congo such as a beautiful Yaka head-rest, one of the best of its kind to remain in private hands (estimate: €300,000-500,000, illustrated above). Also from the Republic of Congo, Christie’s will present an important royal Luba-Shankadi stool, (estimate: €300,000-500,000) and an exceptional Kifwebe mask from the Songye (estimate: €200,000-400,000). Amongst this offering will also figure ten magnificent Congolese works of art in ivory, such as a Yombe statue (estimate: €100,000-150,000) and a Boa spoon (estimate: €7,000-10,000), which had been part of the “Exhibition of Kongo Art”, in Antwerp in 1937, curated by Frans M. Olbrechts, who was a very important anthropologist and director of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren from 1947 to 1957. In addition to these African objects, the Oceanic art section will present a wonderful zoomorphic Sepik flute stopper (estimate: €30,000-50,000).

Roland de Lathuy, Managing Director Christie’s Brussels and Bruno Claessens, Specialist and in charge of the sale, commented: “We are very honored to be entrusted with the sale of a selection of the African and Oceanic works of art from the Adolphe Stoclet collection, which will be the highlights of our October various owner auction. The beauty, rarity and superb quality of these unseen thirty lots, will certainly appeal to the erudite connoisseurs in the field but also to a larger group of collectors, who are following the cross-categorial collecting approach, which has been so well put in practice by Adolphe Stoclet, juxtaposing African and Oceanic, art, Old Master paintings, Antiquities and medieval relics with his 1911 built Palais in Brussels, a masterpiece by the Wiener Werkstätte.”

LE PALAIS STOCLET
The Palais Stoclet by pioneer Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann, was built between 1905 and 1911 in Brussels and contained a dedicated “Salon Africain”, in which the 30 objects to come to auction, had their own space to reign.

The Stoclet Palace was one of the most refined and luxurious private houses of the early twentieth century. The sumptuous dining and music rooms exemplified the theatrical spaces of the Gesamtkunstwerk celebrating sight, sound, and taste in a symphony of sensual harmonies that paralleled the operas of Richard Wagner from whom the concept originated. In his designs for the Stoclet Palace, Hoffmann was particularly attuned to fashion and to the Viennese identity of the new style of interior. The architect worked with the artistic leading figures of the early 20th century such as Koloman Moser, Michael Powolny and Gustave Klimt whose magnificent mosaics are still in place. The mansion is still owned by the Stoclet family and since 2009 it is classified as UNESCO world heritage site.

ADOLPHE STOCLET (1871-1949)
Adolphe Stoclet started his professional career as a rail road engineer before taking the lead of the bank Société Générale de Belgique when his father passed away. The company became one of the most prominent in Belgium which allowed Stoclet to become an important patron of fine art and music.