Hicham Aboutaam Online

The 21st edition of the International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show at the Park Avenue Armory wrapped up in October. This year’s show included 65 exhibitors and a new energy for admiring and purchasing antiques and other art that had not been seen in recent years.

Phoenix Ancient Art, owned by Ali Aboutaam and Hicham Aboutaam, displayed a breathtaking torso of a nude male youth in Roman black basalt. The piece dates from the late 1st century AD and was priced at $8 million. There was certainly interest in the piece, both from collectors and museums, according to gallery co-owner Hicham Aboutaam.

Other art dealers included Apter-Fredericks of London, London book dealer Bernard Shapero, New York antiques dealer Ariadne Galleries and many others. The show was a great success and was enjoyed by all present.

This beautiful Mycenaean Stirrup Jar is a great example of Early Greek antiques.  Available through Phoenix Ancient Art with Ali Aboutaam and Hicham Aboutaam, this jar has a body that is highlighted with a carefully painted lozenge chain.  The round profile is accentuated with the horizontal bands of lines.

Jars of this sort were first produced in Crete at the end of the Middle Minoan Period from 1700-1550 B.C.  This pottery type is quite unusual and has a false spout that is capped with a clay disk.  While it looks like the liquid pours from here, it actually pours from a spout on the shoulder of the vase.

This type of design was intended to create easy transport.  The false spout made it easy to carry the jar, while the narrow neck where the actual spout is allowed the user to easily control the flow of liquid.

Certainly, antiques come from many time periods and many countries.  Phoenix Ancient Art offers a vast selection of antiques from many locations and time periods.  One interesting time period for which Hicham Aboutaam and Ali Aboutaam offer antiques is the Early Greek period.

What are Early Greek antiques?  This selection includes art that was produced by two main civilizations of the Bronze Age.  These included the Minoans on Crete and the Mycenaeans on mainland Greece.  The main antiques that come from these cultures include fine pottery from the Mycenaeans and pottery with aquatic themes and gems from the Minoans.

When buying antiquities, many people think of acquiring large objects that they can put on display, such as pottery and sculptures. Other smaller types of antiquities, however, are very interesting, both as investments and as treasures to pass on to future generations.

This beautiful bronze belt buckle, for example, that is for sale at Phoenix Ancient Art, is a great representation of Visigothic Art. The many engraved animal motifs are typical of the art of the migration period, ca. 300-600AD. The lyre-shaped of the belt buckles, however, was a form made originally by Byzantine artisans and adapted by the Germanic tribes.

If you want to acquire something truly unusual, consider purchasing a piece from the Dark Ages, a term widely used to the early part of the Middle Ages, from the fall of Rome in 476 AD to around the year 1000 AD. The art from this period includes many items such as illuminated manuscripts, lovely and detailed embroidery and metalwork. Phoenix Ancient Art owned by Hicham and Ali Aboutaam, offer antiques of this period. In the New York gallery now is a mid-6th century Merovingian earring in pristine condition. It is made of a large gold cube bead inlaid with garnets.

Plato

A Roman marble bust of the Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 BCE) has several characteristics that date its composition to at least the second half of the second century. Yet, the sculptor’s renditions of the philosopher’s beard and mustache are in the style of the Greek Classical Period (5th-4th century BCE). Perhaps the bust is a copy of an earlier Greek version? What we do know for certain is that the Romans loved to keep portraits of the great Greek philosophers in their libraries, where scrolls of the writings of Plato and Aristotle were housed.

The 26 cm. (10.2 inch) sculpture is currently on view and for sale at Phoenix Ancient Art. Like many of the works to be found in the gallery, it evokes a sense of the time in which it was made. Hicham and Ali Aboutaam, the owners of Phoenix Ancient Art, like the educational aspect as well as the beauty of antiquities. In this superb bust we can learn a bit about the culture of the Romans of the second century.

Many investors who look for ways to diversify their portfolios are investing in art and antiques. Hicham Aboutaam, owner of Phoenix Ancient Art, says that buying ancient art is one way of expanding one’s financial horizons without necessarily breaking the bank. Click on the link above to listen to his interview on Bloomberg, during which he talks about the joy of collecting antiquities and how the increasing scarcity of Classical Antiquities makes them valued assets.

Cycladic Goddess

In late October, 2009, the Old City of Geneva celebrated its [newly revived appearance] with an art show featuring 16 local amidst the regular permanent GENEVA galleries such as Bang and Olufsen, and Michael Castellino, who showed an unknown local Geneva artist by the name of Philippe Jaccard.

The center of the fair was Phoenix Ancient Art on Verdaine Street. Especially prominent in the gallery was the exhibition, “Goddesses”, lovingly exhibited by proprietors Ali and Hicham Aboutaam. A visit to Phoenix Ancient Art can be as enjoyable as a visit to an art museum, with the added bonus of no admission charge.

Some of the ancient art on view at Phoenix is even more marvelous than what is found in many museums. After all, what public institution has anything like this incredible marble statuette from the Cyclades which somehow, by some miracle, is completely intact?

Roman Oinochoe

Exhibitors were apprehensive before the opening in late October of the prestigious 21st International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show. They were not sure what to expect in terms of sales this year because of the economic turn down. Anna Haughton, co-organizer of the fair, said after the fair closed that sales had been better this year than in the most recent past. According to Ms. Haughton, “Some dealers have said they’ve seen clients they haven’t seen in two or three years.”

Especially pleased with the sales at the fair, Ali and Hicham Aboutaam of the New York and Geneva branches of Phoenix Ancient Art, described the activity at their booth as “feverish.” The Aboutaams had six different bidders for a unique Roman marble figure of a draped woman dating back to the 1st-2nd century AD. They had strong sales for other pieces as well, , including a 5th century BCE oinochoe (wine jug) head-vase in the shape of the head of Aphrodite, which sold for $300,000, and an early 2nd century AD Roman bust of a matron that sold for $120,000.

Sumerian Mesopotamian Head

Ancient Mesopotamia was the birthplace of western civilization. At Phoenix Ancient Art one can explore the beauty and culture of that civilization at the dawn of recorded history, some 8,000 years ago, in the part of the world that is now modern day Iraq, part of Syria and Iran. Phoenix Ancient Art has for sale many astoundingly beautiful ancient artworks from the “land between the rivers,” the Tigris and Euphrates, from which Mesopotamia gets its name.

One example is a Sumerian limestone head of a man, dating from the Early Dynastic II-III period of about 2800-2334 B.C.E.. Although the head itself is fragmentary; the left half of the face shows roundedness suggestive of chubbiness, and almond shaped eye-sockets from which the inlaid eyes are missing. The face has arched eyebrows, a short nose with wide nostrils and thin lips, which bear a restrained smile. The head is adorned with wavy hair and a thin hair band is worn across the top.