A Sizeable Collection

For African and Oceanic art expert Patrick Caput, now selling the collection he shared with his wife Béatrice, what matters is not an object's size, but its quality. The 43 pieces up for sale at Drouot, mostly miniatures, were thus not bought for their modest proportions. Unlike some enthusiasts who swear by small objects alone (like the Stanoff couple, whom the collector knew well), Patrick Caput jokes that he "also likes big pieces!" As witness a Proto-Senufo dance helmet from Mali, whose 55 cm are predicted to make €80,000/100,000. But the advantage of a catalogue like this, apart from its consistency, is that it offers the reasonable estimates characteristic of miniatures. "It's possible to acquire masterpieces for a few thousand euros," says Bernard Dulon, the sale expert alongside Alain de Monbrison. It is a matter of "honouring" collectors, emphasises Patrick Caput, by providing not only the entire stock of miniatures in his possession, but also his "finest pieces". The…