Back to Basics

I would not be so presumptious as to assume I have a readership yet, but one can remain ever hopeful. I hope readers who are attracted to the subject will have some knowledge of the current ancient art market an the issues surrounding it, but I will not presume this from the outset.

Even if you are familiar with the current debate, whether from an academic or archaeological perspective, as a dealer or collector immersed in the trade, it does no harm to go back occasionally and remind ourselves of a few simple facts.

I hope to introduce more complex issues such as export controls and legal instruments affecting cultural property, the history of the market and advice on the various ways into the market, but for now I think it best to begin by reminding ourselves of a few basic facts. If you are new to the subject of antiquities I hope this is helpful and less overwhelming than beginning with an analysis of government legislation.

So the first question I want to address is simply what is an antiquity?

Antiquity is a term that is applied to the physical culture of ancient history, Greece, Rome, Egypt, the Near East are all civlizations we associate with 'antiquity'. Consequently the market in antiquities is the trade in the phyiscal remains from the civlizations of antiquity, the dim and distant past way beyond living memory and in some cases beyond recorded history.

If you are a fan of The Antiques Roadshow, Flog It or some such television guide to antiques, you may understand the term 'antique' to be anything over one hundred years old. Whatever the dealers tell you, anything else is a 'collectible'. Just as an antique must by definition be over a hundred years old, so an 'antiquity' must be over a thousand years old, and most are considerably older.

An antiquity is not just a question of age, and this is where the art market and professional archaeology differ in their approach to remains of past civilizations. By definition an archaeologist must consider anything found within an arhcaeological context as potentially significant for understanding human behaviour of the past. This includes what a Roman soldier ate for lunch while patrolling Hadrian's Wall or even the plants and animals that made up the physical environment during early settlement and migration patterns.

An antiquity is more specific. It is the phyiscal remains certainly, but importantly includes only the artefacts which show the signs of use and manufacture, that is human intervention. Conversely - and confusinlgy for the beginner, ancient coinage forms a different area of research in both the market and academia so 'antiquities' are further limited to objects and artefacts made by humankind, other than coins.

Some examples, a Roman or Anglo Saxn brooch such as the important collection amassed by Reverend Richard Hattat, weapons and armour as represented by the highly significant Axel Guttman collection, parts of buidings such as carved timbers or stone releifs, but not buidings themselves, and any object from Roman pottery bowls to flint had axes.

Generally speaking the time frame for antiquities differs from civilization to civilization but will include the stone tools and implements, not to mention the clothing of early human hunter-gatherer societies up until the brooches and clothes pins of Medieval Europe, although most cultures will consider antiquity to be older than the Medieval Period. Egyptian antiquities for example include Coptic manuscripts and decorative woolen fragments of ceremonial clothes from the early church, but as Islam is alive and well in Egypt (as is the Coptic church incidentally), Medieval Islamic art will not be considered antiquities (although confusingly the Supreme Council for Antiquities, Egypt's government body responsible for ancient monuments, does now have responsibility for preserving Medieval buildings as well).

Now that's as clear as mud I hope. Of course this is a simplification, but I hope it will get you thinking about what we mean when academics or antiquities dealers talk about something as 'an antiquity'. If you have ideas of your own, please share them.

Next I hope to differentiate between 'antiquities' and 'ancient art' before moving on to a short history of the market. I must stress I am endeavouring to prevent a balanced overview of the current antiquities trade and have no political agenda to promote or refute. I hope you wil find my Blog insightful and useful.

Canopus