PARIS.- This September in Paris, Artcurial will present the African and Oceanic art collection assembled by Belgian collector Jean-Jacques Rotthier from the 1970s onwards. Comprising major Songye, Kuyu, Luba and Djenné works, this exceptional ensemble will be revealed in its entirety for the first time during Parcours des Mondes.

A major and personal collection

Following the success of the sale of Jean-Jacques Rotthier’s (1932–2009) Egyptian antiquities collection, which totalled nearly €1.5 M with 100% of lots sold, Artcurial, in partnership with Lempertz, will present the Belgian collector’s African and Oceanic art collection in Paris on 8 September, during Parcours des Mondes.

Assembled from the 1970s onwards, the collection reveals the discerning eye of a passionate yet discreet collector, guided less by speculation than by an uncompromising pursuit of aesthetic excellence. Although works from the collection have regularly been lent to major exhibitions, the ensemble has largely remained out of the public eye until now and is being unveiled here for the first time in its full breadth.

Shaped by travels across Africa — from Ethiopia and Ghana to Mali, where Jean-Jacques Rotthier spent time living — and enriched through decades of exchanges with specialists such as Bernard de Grunne and Pierre Dartevelle, the collection belongs to the tradition of the great twentieth-century private collections.

A remarkably cohesive ensemble

This first chapter brings together nearly one hundred major works, most of them originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The collection stands out as much for its coherence as for the quality of the works assembled, reflecting a sensitive, scholarly and profoundly personal vision.

As art historian Frans Olbrechts once wrote, the aim was not the pursuit of material wealth, but rather “that which may one day bring Africa greater renown than all the mineral treasures hidden beneath its soil: its art and its artists.” It is a vision that seems to resonate throughout the Rotthier collection.

Landmark works of African Art

Among the highlights is an exceptional group of four Songye statues, including a striking monumental figure with an oversized head studded with copper nails and animated by an intricate relief treatment around the eyes (est. €40,000 – €60,000). A rare Luba authority sceptre in the Mwanza style, topped with two female figures (est. €20,000 – €30,000), further illustrates the sculptural power of the ensemble.

The collection also reveals Jean-Jacques Rotthier’s enduring fascination with the ancient cultures of West Africa through an important group of Djenné-Jeno terracottas from Mali and Nok works from Nigeria. A remarkably rare janus Kuyu figure, collected in the Congo between 1910 and 1930 by Aristide Courtois — of which only one other example is known today in the Fondation Dapper collection — ranks among the major discoveries of the sale (est. €40,000 – €60,000).

As Stéphane Aubert notes: “Beyond the quality of the works themselves, this collection expresses a vision, a coherence and a level of discernment that together constitute its true strength.”

A masterful ensemble of Songye statues

One of the sale’s major highlights is a rare group of four monumental Songye statues, embodying both the formal power and spiritual richness of Central African art. Created to protect entire communities, these Minkishi figures acted as intermediaries between the visible world and the realm of spirits.

Their expressive force is immediate: shell-inlaid eyes, architectonic silhouettes, metal nails, taut volumes and an almost hypnotic presence. Each sculpture resulted from a dialogue between the master sculptor and the nganga, the ritual specialist responsible for activating the figure’s protective power through sacred substances.

At once symbols of authority, objects of power and spiritual guardians, these figures rank among the most emblematic creations of Songye art. The group assembled by Jean-Jacques Rotthier stands out both for its rarity and for its exceptional sculptural quality.