‘Stolen goods’: Protest erupts after rare Gabon mask sold for $4.6mn in southern France

An auction site in southern France plunged into chaos after a local Gabonese community held protest against the auction of a 19th-century wooden carved mask that was sold for 4.2 million euros (US $ $4.6 million).

Activists in Montpellier disrupted the auction on Saturday saying that whoever bought the mask was receiving stolen goods.

The rare wooden “Ngil” mask is used in ceremonies by the Fang ethnic people of Gabon.

The distinctive shape of the Ngil masks is believed to have played a huge influence on the work of famous European artists including Picasso and Modigliani.

“It’s a case of receiving stolen goods,” a man describing himself as a member of the Gabonese community in Montpellier exclaimed from the back of the auction room, surrounded by half a dozen compatriots, AFP reported.

“We’ll file a complaint. Our ancestors, my ancestors, from the Fang community, we will recover this object”, the protester added, describing the mask as a ‘colonial ill-gotten gain’,” he was quoted as saying.

Notably, the base price of the mask was set at 300,000-400,000 euros and nobody was expecting to fetch even a tenth of the sum it was sold for.

According to the auctioneer in charge of the sale, Jean-Christophe Giuseppi, this piece belonged "to the secret society of the Ngil 'vigilantes' who roamed the villages to flush out troublemakers, among whom were individuals suspected of witchcraft."

Giuseppi said the auction was "entirely legal", as far as he was aware.

The demonstrators were later escorted out of the auction hall calmly by security guards, but their protest continued against the sale of African works of art.

According to reports, Saturday's auction also included a Congolese chair which sold for 44,000 euros.

(With inputs from agencies)