Don’t cry victory yet, antique dealers. Boring brown furniture remains difficult, even impossible to shift. Some other antique fields are unfashionable, such as tapestries, porcelain and silver—sectors that were deeply collected a couple of generations ago.
And yet, there are as always exceptions for the unusual and the exceptional. I visited The European Fine Art Fair (Tefaf) in Maastricht two weeks ago, and was blown away, as always, by the range and quality of what was on sale. The rigorous vetting is exemplary, with the result that only tip-top works are offered.
But what really interested me was that there seemed to have been an uptick in sales of traditional works after decades of concentration on Modern and contemporary art.
Now, obviously, Tefaf’s clientele is self-selecting, in that the dealers invite their clients who may well be dedicated collectors in their field anyway. And there was a stunning institutional presence—over 500 museums were invited, from all over the world. But even so, the list of sales is instructive. Who would have thought that French Renaissance ceramics by followers of Bernard Palissy, presented in a striking moss-covered grotto by the Brussels-based Galerie Flore, would find buyers for ten pieces, including two US museums and private collectors?
Or that the silver specialist Koopman sold 12 silver-gilt dinner plates commissioned through the Scheggi Brothers for the Borghese palace? Or that a magnificent 16th-century tapestry shown by the Barcelona gallery Artur Ramon Art sold—to a Dutch institution—for €800,000. Or that Rome’s Alessandra di Castro could find buyers for sculpture, pottery and furniture within a few hours of the opening day?
Ceramics by followers of Bernard Palissy were on sale in a moss-covered grotto presented by Galerie Flore at Tefaf Maastricht Image: courtesy of Galerie Flore
Lewes Smith of Koopman says the gallery sold much better this year, both to new and established clients, than during the previous two. “We had an enormous number of sales at Tefaf this year,” he says. “And I think it is because there is a whole price adjustment in the market. There are now price points at which people feel able to buy again.” He cited $100,000 as the “sweet spot”, noting that it was “harder” at the $2m level.
The point he makes about prices is important, and was also cited by Amaury de la Moussaye of Galerie Flore. “We sell contemporary works and traditional ones. Usually we sell about a third traditional [to] two-thirds contemporary, but at Tefaf for the first time in 15 years, that proportion was reversed,” he said. He thinks this is partly due to prices coming down. “They are ridiculously low compared to contemporary art, particularly when you take into account the rarity of the works on offer,” he told me, noting that the ceramics were priced from €20,000 to €70,000.
“There is definitely a return to older art,” he said. And while he obviously has every interest in saying this, the results of Tefaf this year do seem to bear out his words.