Bust of Isis from the 25th Dynasty (750–656 B.C) in Egypt, and Aryballos in the form of a female bust, early 6th century B.C., both at Princeton Museum of Art[3][4]
Bronze Statue of a Man, ca. mid-2nd to 1st century B.C., Greek,[5] and Marble two-sided relief, 1st century A.D., Roman, the Metropolitan Museum of Art[6]
Phoenix Ancient Art was founded by the Lebanese businessman Sleiman Aboutaam in 1968[15] and incorporated in 1995. The business continues today under the leadership of his two sons, Hicham and Ali Aboutaam.[16][15]
Ali and Hicham Aboutaam.
Ali and Hicham were born in Beirut in 1965 and 1967 respectively. In the 1980s, at the height of the Lebanese Civil War, Ali was kidnapped by a Syrian gang and held hostage until Sleiman procured his release.[17] Following the incident, the family (Sleiman, Souad, the boys and their sister Noura) relocated to Geneva, Switzerland, where they continue to operate a branch of the business today.
In the early 90s, the young men earned a formidable reputation as buyers. Nicknamed "Tall and Taller" by the socialite set (such as those attending events with art collector Leon Levy and his wife Shelby White), they were the awe and the fear of fellow industry players.[18]
In 1998, the brothers assumed control of the family business. The takeover would have been a natural succession, but it was marked by the sudden loss of Sleiman and Souad on Swissair Flight 111.[19]
Events
In April 2009, Phoenix Ancient Art launched e-Tiquities.com, an e-commerce platform for a wide range of artworks, also including jewelry, figurines, amulets, sculpture and pottery from regions as diverse as ancient Greece and Rome, Byzantium, Egypt, the Near East and the Islamic world.[20][21]
In early 2014, Phoenix Ancient Art opened a second gallery in Geneva called ‘Phoenix Ancient Art Young Collectors’, a unique gallery space that exhibits a large variety of objects from the 6th millennium B.C. through the 14th century A.D. [22][23]
On June 12, 2019, Phoenix Ancient Art opened a new gallery in Brussels.[24]
Criminal investigations
In 2004, Hicham Aboutaam, the co-owner of Phoenix Ancient pleaded guilty of forging the origins of a rhyton, which their gallery sold for $950,000.[25]
In 2023, Ali Aboutaam, the founder of Phoenix Ancient Art, was given a 18-month suspended jail sentence in Geneva, for "violating the law on the transfer of cultural properties and use of forged provenance documents."[26]
Fairs and exhibitions
Phoenix Ancient Art participates in a number of international fairs, such as the Biennale des Antiquaires (Paris), the Brussels Antiques and Fine Art Fair BRAFA (Brussels), the International Fine Art and Antiques Show (New York City),[16] the PAD (London), the Point Art Fine Art Fair (Monaco), the Salon Art + Design (New York),[27]the Spring Masters Fair (New York),[28] and TEFAF (New York).[29] They also hold local themed events in their galleries several times a year accompanied by their gallery publications.
In 2025, sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani, a son of Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani and the owner of Dudley House, London brought a civil case against the brothers Ali and Hicham Aboutaam for selling him a forged Nike statue, and falsifying the provenance of other objects. The judge found the breach of the disclosure obligations was “deliberate, serious, prolonged and inexcusable”.[44]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
