The head is oblong and green-beige in color with no personal features displayed, consistent with South Arabian figures.  The presence of inscriptions on the base and the fact that they come from necropoleis has led scholars to deduce that they were commemorative portraits that were placed close to tombs.  The inscriptions refer to the name of the represented figure and to his clan.

This statue belongs to the “Middle Period” which was at the same time, approximately, as the Hellenistic Greek period.

The antiques in their galleries represent over 7000 years of history, from the Neolithic Period of the 6^th Millennium B.C. all the way through the 14^th century A.D. Hicham and Ali use their knowledge and expertise to offer advice to prospective buyers and to explain many of the intricate details of the pieces that they display and sell.

This figure represents the Mother Goddess who would have protected human fecundity, fields and herbs fertility.  The figure would have been worshipped quite widely, from the near East to Western Central Europe.

As the Phoenix Ancient Art website states, “Mostly modeled of terracotta (stone examples are rare), the figures of steatopygic women probably originated from Anatolia (Catal Hüyük, Hacilar), but they were largely spread over a vast area extending from northern Syria (Tell Bouqras) to the Aegean world.”

In recent news, archeologists in Egypt have unearthed 57 ancient Egyptian tombs dating back to around 2750 B.C. The find actually throws new light on Egypt’s ancient religions, according to Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.  Find out more about the recent discovery of these antiques.

Phoenix Ancient Art’s Dark Age Gems

Although the Dark Ages – as its name suggests – was an era of decline, the art work sold by Phoenix Ancient from this time period is quite different.  This is the case with the buckle currently on sale which boasts beautiful curls and circles as well as animal heads.  It is shaped like a lyre which was the stringed instrument that was traditional in Romanic and Greek art works.  These buckles were very popular amongst the Germanic tribes which dominated Europe following the end of the Roman Empire.

Phoenix Art’s Bronze Figure of Serapis Seated on a Throne

One such piece from this area open for bidding at Phoenix Art’s online site, is a Bronze figure of Serapis seated on a throne.  It is a very proud statute, depicting a man with long hair which covers his neck.  The man has a strong, bold look to him, with a quite distant expression.  Serapis was a Hellenistic-Egyptian god, well-known for his Serapium of Alexandria Temple.

Antique dealers, such as Ali Aboutaam and Hicham Aboutaam came from many different countries.  Such locations represented included: Belgium, France, Germany, Great-Britain, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Portugal, Russia, Spain, USA and Switzerland.

36,000 visitors were expected to come to see the vast selection of available antiques including Oceanic art, African art, Oriental art, silver, antique jewelery, ceramics, earthenware and porcelain, drawings, and much more.

Guennol Lioness

“Compared to contemporary art” says Hicham Aboutaam of Phoenix Ancient Art, “antiquities are terribly undervalued.”  He made this remark after the sale at Sotheby’s in New York of a three-inch-tall ancient limestone sculpture of a lioness for $57.2 million in December 2007. The statue, known as the Guennol Lioness, is 5,000 years old and originates from Mesopotamia, where it was discovered not far from Baghdad in the early part of the 20th century by archeologist Sir Leonard Woolley. The winning price almost doubled the previous high that had been paid for a sculpture, and was three times the pre-sale estimate of the piece’s value.