On May 10th, Sotheby’s will hold a new sale of British & Irish Art with dedicated sections for Victorian, Early 20th Century, Marine, Sporting, Scottish and Irish Art. This sale is designed to answer the demand of new buyers who collect across a variety of genres and will bring together the finest drawings, watercolours, oil paintings and sculpture.

There will be exhibitions in Dublin, Belfast and Edinburgh before the auction at our prestigious New Bond Street saleroom. This fresh approach will celebrate the distinct character of British and Irish painting and engage collectors worldwide.

Sotheby’s annual various owners sale of African, Oceanic, and Pre-Columbian Art in New York is led by a magnificent Kota reliquary figure formerly in the collections of Morris J. Pinto and the artist Armand Arman (estimate $1-1.5 million).  In addition, this sale features works from several distinguished collections including The Martin and Roberta Lerner Collection of African Miniature Sculpture, the Zafrira and Itzhak Shoher Collection, and the Susan and Jerry Vogel Collection of African Art.  The selection of Pre-Columbian art will feature Peruvian gold, Mezcala stone figures, masks, and Maya and West Mexican ceramic figures from collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, William and Betty Hays and the Estate of Jan Mitchell.

The personal jewellery collection of arguably the most important female jewellery designer of the 20th century, Suzanne Belperron (1900-1983), will be sold in Geneva on the 14th of May 2012. Comprising over 50 lots, this unprecedented sale features the most significant group of jewels by Belperron ever to appear on the market. This collection includes some of her most celebrated designs and also very intimate items which illustrate her unique style and creative virtuosity.

Born in Dortmund, Germany, Werner Muensterberger (1913-2011) started collecting African art as a teenager, inspired to do so by his godfather, the renowned collector Baron Eduard von der Heydt.  Muensterberger held three PhDs, in psychiatry, anthropology, and art history, and specialized in psychoanalytic anthropology.  He was the author of several important early publications on African, Oceanic, and Native American art, including The Sculpture of Primitive Man (1955) and Universality of Tribal Art (1979); as well as Collecting: An Unruly Passion (1995), examining the psychology of the collector.  The auction features a small group of masterpieces acquired during a lifetime of collecting.  The sale is led by Muensterberger’s iconic Luluwa Helmet Mask, famous for its superb quality and monumental scale (estimate $1.5-2.5 million).