Maseru — The much-anticipated auction of Meshu Mokitimi’s portrait will not be taking place next week after all. Lescor Auctioneers, which had been expected to list the 99-year-old artist’s work among its featured items, says the painting is still undergoing valuation and cannot yet be assigned a proper reserve price.
Phoka Lithebe, a representative of Lescor, told Lesotho Tribune that the company is “still in the process of having it valued” and will only include it in a future sale once the “correct reserve price” has been established. He added, “Yes, there is good potential for the art market in Lesotho. If a Mosotho artist can sell his art for 2 million maloti, it is possible.”
The postponement reinforces a deeper issue that has long haunted Lesotho’s art scene. The country lacks a formal system for valuing and trading creative works. Art has traditionally existed outside structured economic frameworks. There are no recognized art indices, few professional curators, and almost no commercial galleries. Prices are often set by sentiment rather than by standardized valuation.
Lescor’s decision to delay the sale until the portrait is properly appraised could mark a turning point. It signals a cautious but necessary move toward professionalizing the creative sector, where art is not only appreciated for its beauty but also treated as a legitimate economic asset.
For decades, Meshu Mokitimi’s paintings have lived quietly in private homes, galleries, and memory. He belongs to that fading generation of Basotho artists who created for the love of form, not the promise of fortune. That his work now requires formal valuation shows how far Lesotho’s art market still has to go before it can confidently price its own talent.
Lesotho, lacks the infrastructure to ensure its artists receive fair recognition or compensation.
The delay in auctioning Meshu’s work is therefore more than a scheduling matter. It is symbolic. It highlights both the potential and the fragility of Lesotho’s creative economy. Without proper archives, provenance systems, and valuation experts, even priceless works risk being undervalued or lost to informal trade.
For Mokitimi, who has witnessed Lesotho’s transformation through nearly a century of art, this moment is not a setback but a reflection of progress in motion. His portrait may not go under the hammer next week, but its story already challenges the nation to think differently about the value of creativity.
When it finally does reach the auction floor, the figure it commands will not just represent what a buyer is willing to pay. It will measure what Lesotho believes its art and its artists are truly worth.
