A Paris auction house is facing a court hearing aimed at halting the controversial sale of a trove of antique tribal masks revered as sacred ritual artifacts by a Native American tribe in Arizona.

The Hopi Tribe, whose members live in a dozen scattered villages on a northeastern Arizona reservation, wrote to auctioneer Neret-Minet Tessier & Sarrou last month asking it to cancel a sale scheduled for Friday of 70 objects including the sacred Katsinam masks, and asked for their return.

On Tuesday, the London-based international tribal advocacy group Survival International weighed in on the dispute, after securing a court hearing in Paris on Friday.

The Hopi, some of whose 18,000 members continue to follow a traditional way of life, farming on three isolated mesas, believe that within the bright, mostly fabric masks are the spirits of divine messengers, and they want them returned.

"It ought to be pretty clear to the auctioneers that the sale of these objects would cause profound hurt and distress to the Hopi people," said Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, in a statement.

"To the Hopi, these are not museum objects but an intrinsic part of a thriving, living culture, which should be treated with respect. The auction house should think again and cancel the sale," he added.

According to a Neret-Minet catalog, the collection was assembled by "an amateur with assured taste" who lived in the United States for three decades. An e-mail to the auction house seeking comment remained unanswered.

Survival International wants the sale suspended until a "proper examination of the lawfulness of the collection and its sale" is conducted, the group said in a news release.

The Hopi Tribe's cultural preservation director, Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma, previously wrote to the auction house saying that no one outside the tribe had the right to posses the "sacred objects", which she said should never have left the tribe's jurisdiction.

The catalog shows dozens of hoods, some simple, some elaborate and some with wooden or metal beaks and ears. Auction prices are expected to range from about $2,000 to $32,000, according to the catalog.

Kuwanwisiwma said the Katsinam, which are used during religious ceremonies related to the farming calendar, are "objects of cultural patrimony" protected by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a document the French government signed.

Hopi Tribal Chairman LeRoy Shingoitewa said he believed the items had been stolen from the tribe.

"These sacred objects should be returned to the proper custodians and caretakers, the Kachina chiefs, within their respective Hopi villages," he said.

Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 04/11/2013 page10)