Tingatinga lion painting sells for KSh 7.63 million at Nairobi auction; 61 of 68 lots sold

Art Auction East Africa sold 61 of its 68 lots at Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi on 28 October 2026. The top price was KSh 7,631,000 (US$58,708) for a 1971 lion painting by Tanzania's Edward Saidi Tingatinga (1932–1972), according to the auction's results page.

The page puts total sales at the evening auction at more than KSh 46 million (US$360,000), a sell-through rate of 90%. The sale began at 7pm East Africa Time at the gallery on Victoria Square, Riara Road, and was run live and online.

Business Daily, which reported the results on 29 October 2026, gave exact totals: KSh 39.4 million in hammer prices and KSh 46.3 million once buyer's premiums and taxes were added. Seven lots went unsold, a sell-through rate of 89.71%. The sale was held in partnership with South Africa's Strauss & Co.

The top lot, “Untitled (Landscape with Lion and Bird)”, is in enamel on board. It sold for more than four times its high estimate. The hammer price was KSh 6.5 million against an estimate of KSh 1.2 million to KSh 1.6 million; with premium and taxes the buyer pays KSh 7.63 million.

“The highlight was the Tingatinga that made Sh6.5 million, which I understand is a local record by some distance,” Dr Alastair Meredith, an art specialist at Strauss & Co, said, as quoted by Business Daily. “There was huge interest in that lot, with so many people bidding in the room, on the telephone and online,” he said.

The results page also lists “intensive bidding” for works by Salah Elmur, Peterson Kamwathi, Geoffrey Mukasa and Samuel Wanjau. An untitled 2019 acrylic by Elmur, a Sudanese painter, was knocked down for KSh 3 million (KSh 3.52 million with premium and taxes). “The Two Horse Race” (2004) by the Kenyan artist Kamwathi went for KSh 1.8 million (KSh 2.11 million with premium and taxes).

Two carved wood sculptures tied for fourth place at KSh 1.5 million each: an untitled bird-and-chicks piece by Samuel Wanjau and “Dreaming” (2000) by Anthony Wanjau. “Dreaming” sold for more than eight times the top of its estimate of KSh 100,000 to KSh 180,000. Each sculpture cost its buyer KSh 1.76 million with premium and taxes.

By country, all 10 lots by Tanzanian artists sold, for KSh 10.2 million in hammer prices. All nine Sudanese lots sold, for KSh 7.8 million. Kenyan artists had the most lots and the highest total, KSh 11.8 million, with 22 of 24 sold. Only 13 of 18 Ugandan lots found buyers, and five of the seven unsold lots were Ugandan.

Earlier sales totalled well over KSh 29 million in 2025, KSh 27 million in 2024 and KSh 23.3 million in 2023. Susie Goodman, Strauss & Co's executive director, said before the sale that about 250 bidders had registered, with registrations from 54 countries.