Hicham Aboutaam Online

On Saturday May 15, 2010 Hicham Aboutaam and Phoenix Ancient Art will be participating in the third annual Madison Avenue Gallery Walk. The Gallery Walk features 50 galleries on Madison Avenue and supports arts education via the Fund for Public Schools.

Free tours will be led by the faculty members of New York City public schools through the world renowned galleries of Madison Avenue. Beginning at 11am tours will commence each hour from the Event Information Centers which will be set up in the Fuller Building-Vornado Realty Trust and in the Arader Galleries.  The final tour will begin at 4pm.

The galleries, including Phoenix Ancient Art, are all found on a one-mile stretch of Madison Avenue, between 57th Street and 83rdth Street on the East Side of Manhattan. Some of the galleries are located on the side streets, but not more than half a block from Madison.

Monies raised by the Gallery Walk will be used to help The Fund for Public Schools so that it can support arts education in New York City public schools.

There will also be a scavenger hunt all day. The hunt is family oriented and the winners will receive a 2 for one admission to the Whitney Museum of American Art. Guides and more information for the scavenger hunt will be available at either of the information centers.

Phoenix Ancient Art, as well as many of the other galleries on the walk, will be offering talks and discussions throughout the day.

Hicham Abouttam and his brother Ali Aboutaam, joint owners of Phoenix Ancient Art, offer their clients the opportunity to bid for antique arts from the Neolithic Era through to the 14th century.  Otherwise known as the New Stone Age, this was a time when human technology was in its early developmental stages.  It followed the Holocene Epipalaeolithic Age which led to the Neolithic Revolution.  The Neolithic Era more accurately describes a certain set of cultures and behavior traits, as opposed to a specific historical time and thus antique art is an example of this Era.

E-Tiquities and Art Collectors

For anyone who has an eye and a heart for antiques, Phoenix Ancient Art, working with its online partner e-Tiquities, would be a good place to start.  The Abouttam’s sell both “rare and exquisite works of art from ancient civilizations” spanning many centuries, that make an antique collector’s dreams come true.  At their e-Tiquities site, one will find pieces from many eras, including the following:  Anatolian, Byzantine, Cypriot, Dark Age, Egyptian, Geometric and Orientalizing Greek, Hellenistic, Islamic, Mesopotamian, Persian, Roman, Sardinian, and Syrian.

Hicham Aboutaam, co-owner of Phoenix Ancient Art, on why antiquities are timeless investments:

“There is no more supply. What is rare now will be even more rare in ten years. If a major find should be made in any of the source nations, it would be impossible for it to reach the market. The more you hold on to ancient objects, the more valuable they will become. Of course, the moment that somebody decides to sell something, it is usually expected that he will get less than he will like. But the moment a buyer decides to buy something, he is expected to pay a little more than the market value. Antiquities are traditional, not something that goes in and out of fashion. They have always been collected throughout history.”

Certainly, there are many exquisite items in Hicham Aboutaam and Ali Aboutaam’s galleries. One highlight is the Seated Woman with a Bird. This rare bronze statue comes from the Greek Geometric period of the 7th century B.C. It was created in the Daedalic style, which was an early sculptural development named after the artist who was said to have introduced human respresentations.

Some of this antique’s Daedalic characteristics include her linear frontal pose, her wig-like hair and her large, almond-shaped eyes.

As Hicham Aboutaam from Phoenix Ancient Art explains, she may actually be the original of the goddess Aphrodite, as she would come to be known. This is particularly true if the bird in her hand is a dove, which was often associated with Aphrodite. Mr. Aboutaam says that there are only a small number of bronzes from this period. One such famous bronze is “Mantiklos” Apollo which is featured in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. This Seated Woman with a Bird shares a number of anatomical features with the “Mantiklos” Apollo, including the wide, rectangular shoulders that smoothly transition to extended arms.

This stunning antique sits 2.6 inches high and has a solid cast with a bluish green patina.

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.