Yahoo – AFP,
Pascale Mollard-Chenebenoit, 14 Dec 2014
 |
Kachina
dolls made by Hopi and Zuni Native American tribes are on display on
the eve of
their sale at the Drouot auction house in Paris on December 14, 2014
(AFP
Photo/Thomas Samson)
|
Paris (AFP)
- An auction on Monday of sacred masks and objects in France has stirred fresh
anger among Native Americans, with representatives of the Navajo people
travelling to Paris to try and halt the latest sale.
The Eve
auction house has 270 Native American, Eskimo and pre-Colombian artefacts going
under the hammer and the United States embassy has stepped in, urging a stop to
the sale of items cherished by the Navajo and Hopi people.
The sale is
the fourth since 2013 that the southwestern Hopi people have tried to block of
ceremonial masks and headdresses they consider to embody living spirits.
 |
A Puebloan
Chakwaina mask (L, circa
1900/1910) and a Kachina Buffalo mask
(circa
1910/1920) are on display among
other artefacts made by Native American
tribes
before their sale at the Drouot
auction house in Paris on December 14,
2014
(AFP Photo/Thomas Samson)
|
A
delegation from the Navajo nation led by the tribe's vice-president Rex Lee Jim
is in Paris to try and block the sale of eight sacred masks.
"Several
representatives came to pray and gather in front of the objects on
Saturday," said Eve auctioneer Alain Leroy.
Meanwhile
the Hopi have identified over 40 sacred objects up for auction, according to
diplomatic sources.
The Hopi
tribe and the native peoples defence group Survival International asked a court
on Friday to order the release of the sellers' identities.
While the
sale of sacred Indian artefacts has been outlawed in the United States since
1990 -- legislation which has allowed the tribe to recover items held by
American museums in the past -- the law does not extend to sales overseas.
A letter to
the Eve auction house on Friday from Jane Hartley, the US ambassador to France,
called for the objects to be pulled from bidding while the Hopi and Navajo
tribes "determine if they have recourse to seek their return".
US calls
for dialogue
The embassy
called for dialogue between the auction house and the tribes.
However the
Board of Voluntary Sales "declared this auction legal," said Leroy.
"We
have no intention of divulging the name of the sellers or the buyers of the
masks. That stays in the private domain."
He said it
was legal to own, collect and sell the colourful masks and statuettes.
"This
sale is not scandalous because it is not forbidden."
However,
images of the masks claimed by the Navajo were no longer available on the
auction house website on the eve of the sale.
 |
Anthropomorphic
statuettes from Mezcala, Mexico, are pictured among other
artefacts made by
Native American tribes on display before their sale at the Drouot
auction house
in Paris on December 14, 2014 (AFP Photo/Thomas Samson)
|
In April
last year, the sale of some 70 Hopi masks fetched around 930,000 euros ($1.2
million) despite international appeals to halt the auction, decried as a
sacrilege by activists including Hollywood legend Robert Redford.
Brightly-coloured,
intricate "Kachina" dolls and masks or headdresses are valued at
thousands of euros.
One of the
jewels of the collection is a 40cm-high double mask resembling two bird's heads
stacked upon one another valued at up to 60,000 euros.
The
18,000-strong Hopi tribe of Arizona uses the masks in highly-private religious
ceremonies where they are worn by dancers.
The Navajo
are the largest recognised tribe in the US, and count some 200,000 people
living in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.
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