Nigeria Fails to Halt Paris Sale of 'Stolen' Sacred Treasures

ARTDAILY
A pair of "museum quality" Igbo statues went under the hammer for 212,500 euros. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
PARIS (AFP).- Nigeria failed to halt a Paris sale of sacred statues Monday which museum officials said were stolen during the country's bloody civil war. Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments demanded that auction house Christie's stop the sale of the artefacts, which were collected by a former art advisor of the late French president Jacques Chirac. While a pair of "museum quality" Igbo statues went under the hammer for 212,500 euros, a "major Urhobo statue" estimated at 900,000 euros ($1 million) failed to sell. The three pieces from southern Nigeria were among a number of "African masterpieces" that Christie's said came from an "important European private collection" they declined to name. But the head of the National Museum in Nigeria's Benin City said that objects were stolen and appealed to Christie's "and other auction houses to halt the process immediately. [More