Long-form pieces on dating, provenance, and the contemporary restitution debate. Written for the buyer who wants to be on the right side of the conversation, not the comfortable side.
A practical, eight-step protocol for assessing the age of a West or Central African wood mask — combining surface evidence, structural cues, scholarly comparisons, and explicit acknowledgment of where dating still goes wrong.
What provenance is, why it matters for African art specifically, what counts as evidence, and what to do when the chain has gaps — written for the serious private buyer who wants to be on the right side of the contemporary debate.
A year-by-year account of the looting, dispersal, and ongoing return of the Benin Bronzes — the most consequential restitution case in African art. What happened, when, where the objects are now, and what remains unresolved.
A neutral primer on the contemporary restitution conversation for African art — who argues what, which standards have hardened into practice, and how a private collector engages with the question honestly.