Sotheby’s first sale of Modern and Contemporary African Art was held today in London. The £2.77m total wasn’t quite what the auction house was hoping for. But there was one clear winner, Chéri Samba, the Congolese painter whose work is being featured at the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s current show of African art from the collection of Jean Pigozzi.

Of the top 15 lots in Sotheby’s sale, Samba had four works. And the work that sold the best was once owned by Pigozzi and acquired by the consignor from a sale of Pigozzi’s works in 1999.