Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Much of the art market seems opaque and confusing, not least when it comes to antiquities. This field has had its fair share of scandals, ranging from forgeries to illicit looting and trafficking, and sometimes a combination of all of those misdeeds. In 2023, an antiquities expert claimed that a good percentage of a group of looted archaeological artefacts repatriated to Italy from the US (and valued at more than $20mn) were, following a trafficking investigation, knock-offs.At the same time, fashionable collecting categories such as contemporary art and modern design have relegated the reputation of antiquities to something of an old person\u2019s academic hobby. Contemporary and modern works offer immediate visual impact \u2014 much more Instagram-friendly \u2014 without the need for too much reading, while new money has long favoured the art of its time, as a reflection of its own preoccupations. This year\u2019s Tefaf art and antiques fair in Maastricht includes eight antiquities galleries (a small percentage of the fair\u2019s 273 exhibitors): specialists who are passionate about winning people over to their niche. They share some refreshing reminders about the realities of the market \u2014 plus some pleasant surprises \u2014 for the would-be collector.Think beyond statues with broken nosesIf Greek and Roman marbles aren\u2019t your thing, that doesn\u2019t mean that you don\u2019t like antiquities. The Tefaf section for antiquities dealers is in fact called \u201cAncient Art\u201d, something most of its exhibitors also subscribe to. This is partly to avoid some of the negative associations (think \u201cantiquities trafficking\u201d, \u201clooted antiquities\u201d) as well as to reflect that \u201cit\u2019s a small market but covers thousands of years and numerous cultures so is the broadest niche of all,\u201d says the London dealer Rupert Wace.\u00a0The geographic reach extends, of course, to ancient Egypt, including a rather fetching bronze falcon, a representation of the sun god Horus dating to the 7th century BC, at Plektron Fine Arts. Reaching beyond, in time and place, Wace has a 19th-century sub-Saharan Kota reliquary, a metal-crafted, humanoid guardian figure to honour the dead, while Galerie Kevorkian has beautifully sinuous bronzes from Luristan, Iron Age Iran (first millennium BC).\u00a0Unlike in other fields, antiquities don\u2019t need to be complete.\u00a0\u201cIt is often better to acquire a fragment of the highest artistic merit than a fully intact but less exceptional piece,\u201d says the Basel dealer Jean-David Cahn. Buyers might also be enticed by the growing market for wearable ancient jewellery. Kallos has a Roman gold and emerald necklace and pair of earrings that prove boho-chic is nothing new.\u00a0Brush up on the law \u2014 and ethicsAntiquities are treasured partly because of their long history, but this is also their own Achilles\u2019 heel. Provenance \u2014 where an object has come from and its proof of ownership \u2014 is vital, but often very difficult to establish. The trade is heavily and increasingly regulated but absolute oversight is impossible, particularly in the digital age \u2014 witness the recent appearance on eBay of some of the hundreds of objects that were stolen from the British Museum.\u00a0The most important ethical guideline is that items should only be bought if the buyer is certain that they have not been illegally excavated or illegally exported since 1970, the date of the signing of the international Unesco convention on cultural property.\u00a0There are, of course, complexities around establishing such certainties (remember, documentation can be forged too). Plus, as ever, there are grey areas. For individual collectors, dealers characterise the 1970 guideline as a rule of thumb rather than a rule. As Martin Clist at London\u2019s Charles Ede puts it, \u201cthe absence of evidence is not evidence of absence\u201d. Nevertheless, an ill-informed buyer could end up with an item that can\u2019t be resold, so make sure to have the right questions to hand and don\u2019t be afraid to ask to see any relevant paperwork.\u00a0Ancient art is fundamentally undervalued relative to other areas in the art marketFind a trustworthy dealerThey would say that, wouldn\u2019t they? But in this instance, it is sound advice, particularly for a starter collector. A reputable dealer will have done a lot of heavy lifting. \u201cEven we can\u2019t do it all ourselves,\u201d says the Roman arts specialist Ollivier Chenel. \u201cWe reach out to scholars and other researchers to chase down sources and provenance.\u201d\u00a0But how to know a dealer is reputable? The main trade bodies are the International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art (IADAA) and the Antiquities Dealers\u2019 Association (ADA), while some individual regions have their own professional organisations, such as the British Antique Dealers\u2019 Association and the Syndicat National des Antiquaires.Major-league art fairs are also responsible for the exhibitors they accept and often have stringent vetting requirements. This is the case at Tefaf while other respected fairs include Frieze Masters in London and the Brafa Art Fair in Brussels.\u00a0\u00a0Most dealers now have up-to-date websites and publish thorough catalogues, often to coincide with the big art fairs. They are also very open to conversation. \u201cDo not be afraid of saying the wrong thing or making mistakes,\u201d Clist says \u201cDealers come across this all the time and (largely!) don\u2019t judge the person accordingly. A good relationship will last all one\u2019s collecting\u00a0life.\u201dDon\u2019t spend too much\u201cAncient art is fundamentally undervalued relative to other areas in the art market,\u201d says Salomon Aaron at London\u2019s David Aaron. Certainly when compared to modern art, where a prized work can run into the millions, antiquities provide a very pleasant surprise and it is very possible to find a good buy for less than \u00a310,000. At Tefaf, Charles Ede has a stylish Greek black-glazed and ribbed terracotta jug (c4th-century BC) priced at \u20ac7,000 while Rupert Wace\u2019s aforementioned gold and emerald necklace is \u20ac9,800.\u00a0Anyone who is thinking of collecting ancient art already feels that thrill of another world, of being able to touch and live with these pieces Conservation and care are also relatively inexpensive, certainly when compared to, say, dealing with leaked formaldehyde in a contemporary work. \u201cOur objects have lasted thousands of years already,\u201d says the Paris dealer Corinne Kevorkian.Touch the pastClassical myths and legends, often learned in childhood, have enduring appeal. \u201cThe stories of gods, heroes, poets, generals and emperors conveyed in these objects are matched by the stories of everyday men and women, from slaves to the aristocracy,\u201d says Madeleine Perridge, director of Kallos Gallery in London.\u00a0\u201cThese really stick for many of us who then go on to a lifetime of loving ancient history.\u201dUnlike most art, antiquities are meant to be interactive. \u201cAnyone who is thinking of collecting ancient art already feels that thrill of another world, of being able to touch and live with these pieces,\u201d Perridge says. Wace finds that \u201ca very important part of the fun is to be able to hold the objects and create an immediate connection with the past\u201d. Clist gets seriously romantic: \u201cIn a world of superficiality, there is something deeply profound about owning a\u00a0simple terracotta lamp bought for a\u00a0few hundred pounds, or a fragment of sculpture dating back thousands\u00a0of years\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. The millennia disappear, and one can ponder what of the ancient world differs from ours and what remains the same. It shows us what we are as human\u00a0beings.\u201dMarch 15-20, tefaf.comFind out about our latest stories first \u2014 follow FT Weekend on Instagram and X, and sign up to receive the FT Weekend newsletter every Saturday morning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Much of the art market seems opaque and confusing, not least when it comes to antiquities. This field has had its fair share of scandals, ranging from forgeries to illicit looting and trafficking, and sometimes a combination of all of those misdeeds. In 2023,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-232396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232398,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232396\/revisions\/232398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}