Solomon Island Canoe Prow - Dream Piece #30
Dream Piece #30
Solomon Island Canoe Prow
Sotheby’s Paris
15 June 2011, Lot 17
$2,160,574
Solomon Island canoe prow, ex. Gaston de Havenon, $2,160,574, Sotheby’s Paris 2011.
If you are a serious collector of Oceanic art and think you know a particular object type or genre very well and are then confronted with an object so vastly different and superior to all other known examples that your visceral response is to gasp—then you know you are in the presence of something truly special, such that all previous conceptions of value do not apply, where normal pricing rules or logic can be tossed out the window. If you happened to be in the market for a Solomon Islands canoe prow back in 2011 and you opened the Sotheby’s catalog to this piece you surely would’ve gasped.
There is really nothing comparable. At the time the highest price paid at auction for a Solomon Island canoe prow was a beautiful, classic example, ex. Charles Ratton, that had sold at Sotheby’s, New York in May 2007 for $216,000. This was a hefty sum for an undeniable masterpiece with an excellent provenance. So how do you explain the almost ten times that amount paid for this Gaston de Havenon prow sold four years later in Paris?
Solomon Island canoe prow, ex. Charles Ratton, Sotheby’s New York 2007, sold for $216,000.
First, as wonderful as the Ratton prow is, it confirms our expectations instead of resetting them. It is the high point at the top of a known genre that is elegant and nearly perfect in all respects. A piece that when encountered would start your head nodding and bring a smile to your face in admiration. But in 2011 comes the de Havenon prow and your reaction is to gasp not smile and you know you are in the presence of something on another level. What you had in your mind as the greatest Solomon Island canoe prow just got elbowed aside.
But let’s back up and understand what we are dealing with. The Solomon Island canoe prows that we know as nguzu nguzu were relatively small figureheads on large war canoes, placed on the stem, low down near the waterline at the leading edge of the vessel. Their function was two-fold, both protective and menacing. They were the spiritual guardian against storms and evil water spirits, their toothy grins announced their malicious intent to the unsuspecting folk mending their fishing nets on the beach of a targeted village.
Solomon Island canoe prow, ex. de Grunne, Sotheby’s Paris 2004, sold for $190,888.
The vast majority of nguzu nguzu canoe prows have elongated faces with jawlines extending forward into what looks somewhat similar to a dog’s snout. This has often been connected to a mythical dog named Tiola who would bark in the direction of the coming enemy attack and lead the warriors to victory.
There is nothing canine in the de Havenon canoe prow. It is assuredly anthropomorphic with its large head jutting forward from broad, squared-off shoulders and torso of a powerful warrior. A figure ready and able to charge into battle—not just bark in its direction. You know, just a different message…
Detail of the de Havenon prow: monumental volume, compressed posture, frontal energy.
This is unquestionably a masterpiece. Not just in the sense of a great work by a gifted artist but as something that redefines the genre, blows up our expectations and bridges the cultural and geographic gulf between us and nineteenth century Solomon Islands. It is a piece that can be disconnected from the bow of a war canoe, placed on a pedestal and be appreciated for its power, beauty and our common humanity.
Rear view of the prow, revealing the sculptural mass and squared-off shoulders.
But does this fully explain why it sold for nearly ten times the previous auction record for a Solomon Island canoe prow? Mostly yes, but Jean Fritts, who was head of Sotheby’s African and Oceanic Art department at the time, mentioned a confluence of factors at that 2011 sale that contributed to such high prices. It was a moment when new institutional buyers with big budgets entered the field looking for just such universal masterpieces and had the finances to back up their interest—a superb Maori footrest from the Morris Pinto Collection sold for more than $2 million at the same sale—55 times the same piece sold for back in 1987.
The lesson here is that if you are in the market for an unquestionable, universal masterpiece—there is no price logic and no guidelines to follow. You are in unknown territory where the only protection you have is, hopefully, an unlimited bank account.