Update: A 19th-century ceremonial shield in painted hide, from the Acoma Pueblo people, who come from what is now New Mexico, was withdrawn from the 30 May sale of Native American artefacts by EVE auction house at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. This is a “small victory in a larger battle”, according to the spokesman of the United States Embassy in France, Phil Frayne, who told the Associated Press that this action was taken since the sacred artefact may have been illegally obtained in the 1970s.
Last week, the United States authorities sent the French government documentation pointing to the alleged theft, and the US Interior Secretary, Sally Jewell, wrote to the French authorities to plead for the shield’s removal from the sale. She also called upon the French government to identify the seller of the artefact. Protesters outside of the Hôtel Drouot during the sale held signs saying “cultural genocide” and “sacred not for sale”.
The director of EVE, Alain Leroy, told The Art Newspaper via email that testimony given last Friday, 23 May pointed to the shield’s disappearance in the 1970s. “We reached out to the State Prosecutor in order to have more detailed information, pending we removed the object from the sale.”
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Native American leaders, US politicians and NGOs held an emergency meeting at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C, on 24 May to protest the planned auction of hundreds of sacred objects and works of art in Paris next week. Artefacts from the Americas, Africa and Asia are on the block at Estimations Ventes aux Enchères, or EVE auction house, including Hopi masks that are considered physical embodiments of the tribe’s ancestors. One is estimated to sell for between €40,000 and €60,000.
Brenda Toineeta Pipestem, the chair of the board of trustees of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, called on the international community to condemn the auction. She also asked the owners of the disputed objects to return them.
“Unfortunately, these materials that you want to auction were never meant for market, and they were never yours to own,” Pipestem said in a statement. “Please join us in setting a new standard for the private sector’s treatment of indigenous peoples’ sacred objects and cultural patrimony.”
Steve Pearce, a New Mexico Republican congressman, also spoke at the meeting. Pearce has introduced a bill asking federal agencies to do more to address the theft of tribal artefacts, as well as their trafficking domestically and internationally. “We’ve had tremendous support from the state department, the US embassy in Paris, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Smithsonian,” Pearce said. “But the French have not been so responsive to our request.”
Ahead of the auction on 30 May, Acoma Pueblo governor Kurt Riley sent a letter to secretary of state John Kerry and other top officials urging them to “make every effort” to persuade the French authorities to intervene. An Acoma Pueblo ceremonial shield is among the items to be sold (est. €5,000-€7,000).
Alain Leroy, the owner of EVE auction house, said that all items in the sale “are of legal trade in the US and in France”. He added: “The public auction process allows the different tribes to acquire their past, and that is exactly what some tribes prefer to do, seeking efficiency and discretion.”
Over the past few years the Hopi tribe has filed several unsuccessful lawsuits aimed at preventing the sale of objects at EVE auction house.