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Swiss auction house sells vase for price 10,000 times higher than original estimate

A Chinese vase was sold in Geneva for more than 6 million Swiss francs (€5.18 million), setting a new local record price for a non-jewellery item. The price tag was substantially more than what the owner had been originally been quoted.

Published: 25 September 2017 17:45 CEST

Swiss auction house sells vase for price 10,000 times higher than original estimate

The record-smashing Chinese porcelain item. Photo: Genève Enchères.

The yellow and blue vase fetched a record price at auction on September 21st in Geneva as part of auction house Genève Enchères' Asian art sale.

“After a lengthy battle between a collector over the phone and a buyer in the room, the lot has finally been won by the buyer present in the room for five million Swiss francs, an amount never reached in Geneva for a work of art (except watches and jewellery),” said Geneva auction house Genève Enchères in a press release.

The vase, 60cm high, depicts two dragons against a yellow background. It bears a Qianlong six character sealmark, a signature of 18th century Qing dynasty porcelain.

The Qianlong sealmark. Photo: Genève Enchères.

“This is the hammer price so with the commission added it is a total of 6.08 million Swiss francs (€5.1 million/$6.1 million),” auctioneer Olivier Fichot told AFP.

The final price was 10,000 times more than the catalogue estimate. The vase had originally been estimated to be worth between 500 and 800 Swiss francs (€430-690/$515-825), according to Swiss news portal 20min.ch.

The buyer, an amateur from Asia, was in the room for the auction, while his competitor bid by telephone, according to AFP.

The vase, article 567 in the auction house's Asian sale, sold for nearly 100 times more than any other piece in the same auction.

The auction house's previous record was a bronze Buddha statue that sold for 550,000 Swiss francs (€475,241/$566,387).

READ MORE: Online auctions: 10 tips to avoid being ripped off

African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old told AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

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