ANCIENT ART POPULAR
[BIZ/LEI: Maastricht, March 16] TEFAF Maastricht attracts collectors from all over the world and many of the visitors to Wace’s stand had never considered buying ancient art before, such as the modern art enthusiast who purchased an Egyptian banded alabaster bowl, Early Dynastic Period, c. 3100-2650 BC, once in the Heeramaneck collection and formerly on loan to the Brooklyn Museum, for around EUR 15,000. Other sales included a Roman marble head of Hermes, c. IInd century AD, purchased by a German private collector for around EUR 40,000; a Cycladic marble figure, Spedos, c. 2700-2500 BC, formerly in the collection of Lord McAlpine which sold to a Swiss private collector for a price in the region of EUR 80,000; and an Egyptian bronze head of a cat, late Dynastic Period, 664-332 BC, 14.6 cm high, formerly in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, which went to a Far Eastern collector for over EUR 100,000. An Egyptian limestone relief fragment, dating from the Late Dynastic Period, XXVIth Dynasty, 664-525 BC, sold for a price in the region of EUR 80,000 to another Swiss private collector.
One postscript from the TEFAF reveals the popularity of ancient art. Rupert Wace is delighted to report that, having sold over 50 works of art ranging in price from EUR 1,000 to over EUR 400,000, this was definitely one of the most successful fairs in his career. He was particularly pleased that an important Roman marble bust, probably of the Empress Faustina the Younger, that had been in Uruguay for the last 125 years, will return to Italy having been bought by a private collector. (Asking price: EUR 225,000)
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