Presented at Frieze Masters 2025, Rediscovered brings together some of the most important ancient artworks to re-emerge on the market in recent years, from a rare Egyptian quartzite relief once desired by Belle da Costa Greene, J. P. Morgan’s pioneering library director, to the only complete surviving bust of the Antonine Prince, Marcus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus. Each work has been hidden in plain sight, misattributed, obscured, or forgotten in private collections before being rigorously traced back to its origins through ArtAncient’s research. Presented at Frieze Masters 2025, these rediscoveries restore lost histories and reconnect the objects to the sanctuaries, dynasties, and collections to which they once belonged.
Among the highlights is a rare Egyptian quartzite relief from the early Ptolemaic period, circa 332 BC. Carved from a luminous stone once quarried near the cult centre of the sun god Ra, quartzite was among the most prized and technically demanding materials of Pharaonic Egypt, reserved for royal monuments. When this relief resurfaced at a Paris auction last year, its surface was obscured beneath black varnish and its provenance incomplete. ArtAncient traced it back to the celebrated 1914 sale of the Arthur Sambon Collection, one of the most distinguished assemblages of ancient art. That alone was important, but further study uncovered a striking insight: in a private letter to Bernard Berenson, Belle da Costa Greene, confidante of J. P. Morgan, singled out the very piece, confessing that “I should love to have [the] Egyptian plaque…”. Greene’s words, preserved in her sharp, witty correspondence, reveal how the relief once caught the eye of one of the early 20th century’s great tastemakers.
Analysis
Another centrepiece is a marble bust of Marcus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, son of Antoninus Pius, a child once destined for Rome’s highest office but who died in childhood, before his father became emperor in 138 AD. Dating to around 140 AD, the work was long thought to be a 19th-century replica until it re-emerged at a provincial auction last year, its dating dividing scholarly opinion. Through comparisons with fragmentary portraits of the same child, together with scientific analysis of the marble surface and, most importantly, the discovery of two measuring points on the top of the head showing it was likely copied from an original prototype, ArtAncient confirmed its identity as an authentic Roman imperial portrait and, remarkably, the only complete surviving likeness of Marcus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus. Hidden in plain sight for centuries, it will be unveiled at Frieze Masters as one of the most significant imperial portraits still in private hands.
A monumental limestone head from Archaic Cyprus, dating to the 6th–5th century BC, provides another exceptional rediscovery. Unearthed from the temple of Aphrodite at Golgoi by Luigi Palma di Cesnola during his pioneering excavations, the sculpture entered the founding collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York before being deaccessioned in 1928. In the decades that followed, as it passed through an English private collection, this distinguished history was forgotten. With its almond-shaped eyes and archaic smile the head reflects the distinctive fusion of Assyrian, Egyptian, and Greek artistic traditions that characterised Cypriot art of the period. Reconstructing its archaeological and collection pedigree, ArtAncient now presents it as one of the few surviving masterworks from the foremost sanctuary of Archaic Cypriot art, and among the very few of such calibre still in private hands.
Another remarkable rediscovery is a finely modelled figure of a baboon, carved in wood and embellished with a bronze face with electrum, calcite, and glass inlays, dating to Egypt’s Late Period, circa 664–332 BC. Found in a small US auction where it was misdescribed and offered without provenance, the piece has now been traced to Tuna el-Gebel, the foremost cult centre of Thoth, the god of wisdom. Baboons, revered as his living manifestations, were linked to the cycles of the sun and the mysteries of knowledge. This figure may once have stood in a temple as an offering or protective emblem.
Inscriptions
A further rediscovery is the granite torso of the Egyptian official Hor-maa-kheru dating to around 285–186 BC. It is a finely modelled Ptolemaic figure from Mendes carved in hardstone. The belt and back-pillar bear hieroglyphic inscriptions that name Hor-maa-kheru, and enumerate his priestly and civic titles, including scribe of the White Crown, overseer of the seal (treasurer), and priest of Isis, Khnum, Banebdjedet, and Hat-Mehit. These inscriptions highlight both the importance of Mendes as a religious and administrative centre and the high status of Hor-maa-kheru within its elite. During conservation of the historic wooden base, a hidden label was unexpectedly uncovered beneath the felt pad, revealing that the torso was exhibited in The Spaeth Collection at the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio (June–September 1955). Shown alongside works by Picasso, Gauguin, Chagall, and Cézanne.
“Every one of these works embodies the spirit of rediscovery,” said Jethro Sverdloff, Director of ArtAncient. “Our mission is not only to present objects of exceptional beauty, but also to recover their lost histories, reconnecting them to their archaeological origins and the distinguished collections they once adorned. Rediscovered is a celebration of this process, and we are proud to share these remarkable stories at Frieze Masters 2025.”
“Rediscovered isn’t just about the objects,” Sverdloff added. “It’s about the dramatic ways in which fate shaped their fortunes, and the human stories of the collectors, scholars, and eccentric personalities who crossed their paths.”
ArtAncient is a leading London-based gallery specialising in exceptional works dating from the formation of the Solar System to late antiquity. The gallery is renowned for its rigorous research, uncompromising standards of quality, and a curatorial vision that unites ancient art, early sculpture, meteorites, fossils, and objects of scientific and cultural significance.
Frieze Masters runs from October 15th-19th at Regent’s Park, London.
artancient.com
See also: Sarah Adams at Maas Gallery
