CQ1EditorialCahn’s Quarterly 2/2018Dear readers I was delighted to see many of you at TE-FAF Maastricht. For us the fair was very successful and on the whole was character-ised by a good mood and strong sales. As the preview day had, in past years, become too crowded, the fair management decided to hold two invitation-only opening days. I was quite sceptical about this, but contrary to my apprehensions this proved to be very pleas-ant as the visitors could look at the artworks without being distracted by the bustle of the jostling crowds. In numerous conversations with clients I was asked why the prices in our sales catalogue were net of VAT. The reason for this lies in the lack of a unified policy on VAT for an-cient art amongst the different countries in the European Union. Although it is a rath-er dry subject, I would like to offer you a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes and to give you an impression of all the red tape involved when it comes to customs and taxation.When we, as a Swiss company, exhibit at a fair in the European Union, all the artworks need to be imported temporarily. If an object is delivered to a buyer at the fair, it is im-ported permanently and the VAT of the coun-try in which the transaction took place must be paid. Every country has its own tax rate for ancient art: 5% in Great Britain, 5.5% in France, 6 % in the Netherlands, 7% in Germa-ny, 10% in Italy and 24% in Greece. It is not without irony that, of all places those coun-tries with a strong interest in having “their" culture collected by “their" citizens are also the ones with the highest and hence most prohibitive tax rates. The matter is further complicated by the fact that there are differ-ent definitions, sometimes bordering on the absurd, as to what counts as art. In the eyes of the German tax authorities, for instance, objects of use are not art. It follows that sculptures, apparently regarded as being to-tally useless, always benefit from the reduced VAT rate of 7%. This rate also applies for objects of historical importance or of muse-um quality. On the other hand, painted vases (even works by masters such as the Berlin or Brygos Painters) are vessels and thus objects of use. The standard VAT of 19% is therefore charged, even if the item is purchased by a museum! If a piece is delivered directly to us at the fair from the European Union, the tax rate on our margin varies from country to country. In the Netherlands, France and En-gland the rate is currently 21%. In view of this European hodgepodge, we have decided always to communicate prices net of VAT and to add the taxes due in the country where the transaction takes place. The benefit for the client is that the actual price of the artwork always remains transparent. What many clients may not know is that the reduced VAT for art is only applicable if the art dealer imports the object on behalf of the client. The proof of import into the Europe-an Union is regarded as proof of export from Switzerland and thus the transaction is ex-empted from the Swiss VAT. As a courtesy to our clients, we have always paid the admin-istrative fee of ca. EUR 150 per transaction, even though this is not customary practice in the art trade, which passes on these costs to the customer.A PORTRAIT HERM OF EURIPIDES. H. 25.5. cm. Marble. Roman, 2nd half of 2nd cent. A.D. Restorations dating from the 18th cent. CHF 78,000Having bored you long enough with this rather indigestible information, I would like to draw your attention to our exciting and beautiful Art Basel project with the artist Franz Erhard Walther, which is curated on our side by Ariane Ballmer. (Find out more about this project on pp. 7-10 of this edition).English EditionLE MONDE EST DÉSORMAIS SANS MYSTÈREFranz Erhard Walther invited to the Cahn Gallery during Art Basel 2018A joint project by Jocelyn Wolff and Jean-David CahnYou are cordially invited to the opening featuring food based on recipes from Antiquity and prehistory: Monday, June 11, 8-10 p.mExhibition: Tuesday-Sunday, June 12-17, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Cahn Gallery, Malzgasse 23, BaselCQ2Cahn’s Quarterly 2/2018the late 19th century. Defined as an object or feature which emulates the design of a simi-lar artefact made from another material, the skeuomorph is a specialised form of imitation.In ancient cultures such an imitative approach was made possible by the existence of a gen-erally accepted hierarchy of materials, which revealed the social status of the vessels' own-ers. A Jewish legal text of the 2nd century A.D. whose purpose was to raise funds tells us how natural it was for people to think in such categories. It stipulates that those who used golden vessels should sell these and use silver ones; those who used silver vessels should use bronze vessels, and those who used bronze Mere Clay, It Shimmers Like Pure SilverOn the Art of Imitating Ancient Metal VesselsBy Gerburg Ludwigvessels should use glass vessels. (Tosephta, Peah, 4,11). Bronze was assigned an interme-diary value in the ranking list. Due to its red-dish-yellow sheen it could be used to imitate vessels made of gold and conversely bronze vessels, themselves of substantial value, were imitated using clay or glass.Clay imitations of metal vessels were already being made in the Early Bronze Age, as ex-emplified by the polished grey ceramics of the 4th millennium B.C. produced in the Le-vant. In the Archaic Period, Attic potters took up this idea again by coating entire vessels with a clay slip – also used for greater con-trast in red- and black-figure vase painting – It is an observation familiar to us from every-day life: Ornamental design cues are used to enhance materials and media, although they are not necessary from a functional point of view. The embossed seam on rubber shoe soles or a page layout that imitates a ring binder in our computer's word processing program are good examples of this. Though absent from some dictionaries, for instance the Ger-man Duden, the term skeuomorph used to describe this phenomenon has become cur-rent in the worlds of design and software de-velopment. It is compounded from the Greek words “«skeËoz»” (container, implement) and “«µorfÆ»” (shape) and was coined by anti-quarians studying archaeological artefacts in Fig. 1: A TREFOIL OINOCHOE WITH HANDLE APPLIQUES. H. 15.2 cm. Bronze. Etruscan, 5th cent. B.C. CHF 6,800Discovered for YouUPCOMING FAIRSPlease note that this summer we will be exhibiting in London at MASTERPIECE, 28 June - 4 July 2018. In autumn we will be present at Biennale Paris, 10-16 September 2018, and at TEFAF New York Fall, 27-31 October 2018, but not at Frieze Masters London. We look forward to welcoming you at these fairs.Fig. 2: A TREFOIL OINOCHOE. H. 16 cm. Clay, black glaze. Attic, 5th cent. B.C. CHF 7,800CQ3Cahn’s Quarterly 2/2018that turned black during firing. This slip, which sinks down and forms a sediment when clay is elutriated, contains very fine compo-nents, including minerals which ideally had a high proportion of chromophoric iron oxide. The slip glistens both when it is applied and after firing and is therefore called “Glanzton” in German. The potter applied it with the aid of a potter’s wheel, or, as Athenaeus reports of the potters from Naukratis in his Deipnoso-phistai, they plunged the entire vessel into a liquid – the slip mentioned above – so that it would look like silver (Ath., Deipn., 11, 480e). On firing the slip sintered and sealed, forming a black layer on top of the clay.But why black? It appears unusual from our present point of view, but it was not custom-ary to polish silver in Antiquity. In order to clean the vessels, they were smoked using sulphur. Homer describes how Achilles pre-pared his drinking cup for a ritual act in this manner (Homer, Ilias 16, 225). As a result, the vessels took on a matt, dark grey to black patina (silver sulphide) that protected the sur-face. This effect was enhanced by the salt in the sea spray that drifted far inland along the coast. It was this colour that was imitated by means of the black glaze. Furthermore, the potters borrowed the shapes and decoration typical of metal vessels. The rib pattern which became popular in the 5th century B.C. and developed into a standard feature some 100 years later was unequivocally derived from metal vessels. Sharp edges are also reminis-cent of the valuable metal models. Let us examine some of the vessels offered for sale by the Cahn Gallery from a skeuomorphic perspective. First two trefoil oinochoai (figs. 1-2): In view of the Attic provenance of the clay imitation (fig. 2), it comes as a surprise that the bronze jug is of Etruscan manufac-ture (fig. 1). However, the metalsmiths there liked to take their cues from imported silver or bronze vessels from the Greek motherland. Thus, the bronze jug is already an imitation, albeit in a similar or related material. The basic shape and contour of the jugs clearly indicate that the vessels are related. Rising up from a broad base, the wall of the squat body curves outwards and upwards towards the distinctly offset shoulder. In this way the greatest storage capacity was achieved. The short neck with the slightly flaring trefoil rim facilitated precise pouring. The magnificent applique in the shape of a woman’s head at the transition from the handle to the rim of the bronze jug is replaced by a slight pro-jection at the top of the handle of the clay version. Just below the shoulder the base of the handle transitions simply into the wall, whereas on the bronze sister-piece this point is adorned by a silen’s head. To all appearanc-es the potters first concentrated on the imita-tion of formal and functional aspects. But as time progressed, they broadened their range, employing manually produced but increas-ingly also mould-made appliques, stamped ornaments, embossed decorative bands made using the potter’s wheel and the vertical ribs that typically adorn the body wall.Fig. 3: A RARE KANTHAROS WITH VOTIVE INSCRIP-TION TO DIONYSOS. H. 9.6 cm. Bronze. Greek, 2nd half of 4th-3rd cent. B.C. CHF 9,800Fig. 4: A LARGE KANTHAROS WITH HIGH HANDLES. H. 38.1 cm. Clay, black glaze. Boeotian, 2nd half of 5th cent. B.C. CHF 16,000If one focusses on the chalice-shaped bodies of two drinking vessels in the Cahn Gallery (figs. 3-4), a formal relationship becomes ap-parent despite the differences in their overall shape and size. The bronze kantharos (fig. 3) is a typical drinking cup used in the sympo-sium. Its rounded base rested comfortably in the drinker’s hand and the sharply bent edges and flaring rim made it easy to grip. This basic shape with the sharp edges was also employed by the potter for his clay version (fig. 4). The slender foot with broad base, the raised en-circling band in the centre of the stem and especially the high strap-handles with con-necting bar and lateral projections on which the fingers could rest make this kantharos a very imposing vessel. Possibly it was directly modelled on a vessel made of silver.In the course of the next centuries, this type of pottery was produced on an almost indus-trial scale which resulted in a considerable loss of quality. The sheer number of pre-served examples permits the assumption that such black-glazed ware was, so to speak, the silver of the man on the street.Imprint PublisherJean-David Cahn Malzgasse 23 CH-4052 Basel +41 61 271 67 55 mail@cahn.ch www.cahn.chEditorsJean-David Cahn Yvonne YiuAuthorsJean-David CahnMartin FlasharUlrike HaaseGerburg LudwigPeter-Andrew Schwarz Jocelyn WolffYvonne YiuTranslationsBronwen SaundersYvonne YiuPhotosNiklaus BürginShona Cox Ulrike HaaseEugen Leu Peter-A. SchwarzJ. Diaz TaberneroYvonne YiuDesign and LayoutAriane BallmerMichael JoosYvonne YiuPrinterDruckerei Deiner www.druckerei-deiner.dePortable Antiquities: New in The NetherlandsBritain’s highly successful Portable Antiqui-ties Scheme (PAS), which deals with archae-ological finds made by the public, celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. We devoted a feature to PAS in CQ 1/2018 and in the Edi-torial, Jean-David Cahn made a case for the adoption of this scheme by other countries. We were therefore most interested to note that PAN: Portable Antiquities of the Neth-erlands, which is clearly based on the Brit-ish scheme, was launched in 2016. The in-troduction of PAN was directly related to the coming into force on 1 July 2016 of the new Durch Heritage Law, which legalised metal detection in the topsoil down to a depth of 30 cm. Previously metal detection had been illegal, but although it was practiced a lot it was generally not prosecuted. PAN aims to document and publish both new finds as well as finds made in past decades by members of the public, thereby greatly increasing the number of artefacts available for scholarly research. Furthermore, PAN seeks to increase public awareness of cultural heritage in The Netherlands.Further information is available at: https://www.portable-antiquities.nl The Debate CQ4Cahn’s Quarterly 2/2018Following the contribution by Michael Lewis, “Preserving the Past: Recording Archaeolog-ical Finds Made by the Public”, in the last is-sue of Cahn’s Quarterly (CQ1/2018, pp. 4-5), I was asked whether the “Portable Antiqui-ties Scheme” (PAS), which was introduced in Great Britain twenty years ago, could serve as an example or model for Switzerland.Before delving any deeper into the matter, it is important to note that the legal situa-tion in Switzerland is both clearer and – in line with the goal of ensuring the long-term protection of the country's cultural heritage – stricter than in Great Britain. According to Art. 724 of the Schweizerisches Zivilge-setzbuch (ZGB, Swiss Civil Code) all finds made in the soil are public property. They must therefore be handed over to the respon-sible cantonal authorities regardless of the circumstances under which and by whom they were found. Furthermore, all 26 can-tons have either a specialist unit for archae-ology or at least an official reporting office which is responsible for the protection of its archaeological heritage and for storing any finds.1 The cantonal laws and directives not only describe the tasks and competences of the specialist units but also specify, for in-stance, that the use of metal detectors is pro-hibited or requires a license.However, due to their limited resources, which also have to cover rescue excavations in connection with building activities, these specialist units are generally unable to carry out proactive, i.e. systematic and comprehen-sive surveys. Such capacity bottlenecks can, on a case-by-case basis, be relieved with the help of university institutes for archaeology, but these, too, cannot ensure the long-term monitoring of an entire area. Not least for this reason, many specialist units nowadays collaborate closely, sometimes on an almost institutionalised level, with non-pro-fessional volunteers. The basis for this type of cooperation is provided by the “Richtlinien für die Zusammenarbeit mit Ehrenamtlichen” (Guidelines for Collaboration with Volunteers) published in 2013 by the Konferenz Schweiz-erischer Kantonsarchäologinnen und Kan-tonsarchäologen (KSKA, Conference of Swiss Cantonal Archaeologists)2 and the “Guidelines – Richtlinien für archäologische Untersuchun-gen” (Guidelines for Archaeological Investiga-tions) published in 2015 by the Trägerverein Horizont.3 Furthermore, an important role is played by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Prospek-tion Schweiz (AGPS, Work Group Prospection Switzerland) which acts as an umbrella organ-isation and network for all parties involved in prospection, such as university institutes, cantonal specialist units and non-professional volunteers.4The “Portable Antiquities Scheme” is based on a very different legal and institutional framework and cannot therefore be applied to the Swiss context, or only to a very lim-ited degree. This does not, however, mean that PAS should be rejected a priori. Quite the contrary: The scheme shows impressively how great the potential of long-term, spatial-ly comprehensive prospection projects and constructive public-private collaboration can be with regard to the investigation of the set-tlement history of specific areas – and not just in those cases in which the archaeolog-ical heritage can be protected only partially or not at all because of an insufficient legal basis, the lack of an institutional framework and/or deficient resources.The rigorous and systematic reporting of finds in the context of PAS, i.e. their documenta-tion in a central and publicly accessible data- Students from Basel University during a survey with metal detectors at a Celtic and Roman find spot in Canton Jura.The “Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS)”A Solution for Switzerland?By Peter-Andrew SchwarzThe Debate The Celtic potin coin of the Zurich type (top) and the Late Republican denar which was minted ca. 125 B.C. (bottom) were found during systematic prospections in the Brünig area. They indicate that this important mountain pass between central Switzerland and the Bernese Ober-land was already used – at least sporadically – in the late 2nd to early 1st century B.C.CQ5Cahn’s Quarterly 2/2018By Jean-David CahnA Hand of a KourosSurviving Archaic sculpture is very rare and generally in a poor state of preservation. Not-withstanding this, the sculpture of this period has provided us with some of the finest works of art created in Antiquity. The intensity and sheer energy of the sculptures testifies to the skill of the craftsmen who made them and surprises and moves us despite the often cor-roded and battered condition of the pieces. Take, for example, this life-size left hand of a kouros who was depicted in the typical pose, striding forward energetically. The hand orig-inally touched his left thigh – the contact area is clearly visible – and it is clenched to form a fist in a gesture of strength and youthful potency. But see how elongated the hand is with its refined fingers and slender thumb! Power and elegance are in perfect harmony with each other.Dating a fragment like this hand is not easy due to the rich local variety of landscape styles, but I would suggest a date of ca. 550 B.C. It is particularly close to the kouros of Tenea in Munich, who has slightly shorter fingers but the same inwardly curled finger tips. Possibly sculpted on one of the Greek Is-lands, the hand appears to have been broken A HAND OF A KOUROS. L. 16.5 cm. Marble. Greek, Archaic, ca. 550 B.C. CHF 18,000off in Antiquity as the fine iron-oxide patina covers the entire surface including the areas of breakage. Archaic sculpture is very rare on the market and this is also reflected in the limited museum holdings outside Greece. It is therefore con-sidered exquisite to be able to show Archaic sculpture, which in view of its artistic quality is undoubtedly a match for Classical sculpture – I personally prefer Archaic over Classical art. From a historical point of view, the Archaic Period is extraordinarily interesting. It was an aristocratic society in which something akin to an awareness of its own intellectual identity began to emerge. This was the period when the oral tradition was increasingly fixed in writing and when the Iliad and the Odyssey were first written down. Preceding the period of radical social change that followed in the wake of the catastrophic Persian invasion of Greece, it ap-pears to me as a still slightly innocent world, lacking a single dominant centre of power and without the ambition to totally destroy its en-emies on the battlefield. This fragment repre-senting the hand of a kouros thus speaks to me of the almost Arcadian time before the loss of the Archaic smile.My ChoiceKOUROS OF TENEA (Detail with left hand). Ca. 560 B.C. From: G.M.A. Richter, Kouroi, 1988, fig. 249.Peter-Andrew Schwarz is Vindonissa Professor for Provincial Roman Archae-ology at Basel University and as part of his teaching and research activities has carried out various prospection proj-ects in Cantons Aargau, Baselland, Jura and Obwalden. He is inter alia member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Prospek-tion Schweiz (AGPS), the Commission of the Inventar der Fundmünzen der Schweiz (IFS) and the Commission du Patrimoine Archéologique et Paléon-tologique (CPAP) of Canton Jura.base, is of an exemplary character. In Swit-zerland coins are documented in such a way – albeit only to a certain degree. Since 1992, the internationally networked "Inventar der Fundmünzen der Schweiz" (IFS, Inventory of Coins Found in Switzerland), a venture of the Schweizerische Akademie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften (SAGW, Swiss Acade-my of Humanities and Social Sciences) has documented all numismatic finds – both old and new – in a central database and pub-lishes the annual bulletin IFS ITMS IRMS. In this organ all newly found coins in Switzer-land and the Principality of Liechtenstein are published. The IFS may, however, make data on the coins available online only with the explicit permission of the cantons in which the finds were made.5Links:1 http://www.archaeologie.ch/d.htm2 http://www.archaeologie.ch/archaeologie_richtlini-en_ehrenamtliche_version%2010-2013.pdf3 http://www.archaeologie-schweiz.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/customers/archaeologie_schweiz/Partner/H2015/Arbeitsgruppen/Guidelines_Arch_20151102.pdf4 https://www.prospektion.ch5 https://www.fundmuenzen.ch/dienstleistungen/daten-banken/muenzen.phpCQ6Cahn’s Quarterly 2/2018Bizarre and Comic Figures – Antiquity as a Curiosity CabinetNew Artworks Monthlyon www.cahn.chA STATUETTE OF A COMIC ACTOR. H. 8.7 cm. Bronze (solid cast). The figure wears a grotesque mask, a short, sleeveless, belted garment, a padded doublet, long, close-fitting trousers and a phallos and can therefore be identified as an actor from the Old Comedy. His wide-open eyes are framed by pronounced lids. His nose is broad and he wears a pointed beard. The characteristic mouth opening is rendered by a broad groove. He wears a wreath on his head. His right arm is outstretched whereas the left is angled and raised. He originally balanced objects in his hands. Although they are now lost, the rivets in his hands reveal that these objects were worked separately. They may have been vessels, suggesting that the actor played the role of a kitchen slave. Phallos broken. Formerly Galerie Segredakis, Paris, 1970s. Greek, 1st half of 4th cent. B.C. CHF 14,500A CAMPANULATE FIGURINE OF A MAN. H. 19.5 cm. Clay. Stylised male figure. Head slightly raised, gaze di-rected forwards. Oval face, relatively flat profile. Ears, eyebrows and nose plastically modelled. Eyes and mouth rendered by slit-shaped openings. Circular ears (or ear-rings?). Relatively high forehead. The top part of the head trimmed to form a plane that slants backwards. The back segment of the trimmed surface is closed, whereas a slit remains open on the side closest to the forehead. Short neck. Broad, rounded shoulders. Hollow upper body with triangular contour. The preserved left arm points down-wards and does not touch the body. Prominently pro-jecting phallos. Hollow and bell-shaped from the waist downwards: circular cross-section, slightly flaring at the base. Two perforations on opposite sides in the lower third of the legs. Typical Punic shape. These objects are interpreted as votives. Irregularly shaped hole next to the phallos, probably only made after firing. Right arm and shoulder as well as lower half of left arm missing. Traces of abrasion on the surface. Head broken off at the neck and reattached. Nose slightly worn. Formerly Eroti- ca Collection Christian von Faber-Castell, Kusnacht ZH, Switzerland. - On the back an old label “Illa Plana (Ibiza) Idole de barro conico con el vesco marcado No. 2”. Illa Plana, Ibiza, Spain, Late Archaic, 6th-5th cent. B.C. CHF 8,500A FINIAL IN THE FORM OF A STYLISED HEAD OF A MAN. H. 6.4 cm. Bronze. Stylized face of a man with globular eyes, a nose that projects horizontally, a wide groove for the mouth and moulded ears. Surmounting the head is a vertical rod that ends in a convex ele-ment whose smooth upper face is marked with a cross. Beginnings of the neck preserved. Upper lip slightly chipped. Probably a finial for a fibula. Formerly Priv. Coll. Martini, acquired in the 1990s. Greek, Geometric, 8th cent. B.C. CHF 6,800Franz Erhard Walther, Werkzeichnungen. Double-sided drawing. 29.5 x 20.8 cm. Pencil and watercolour on paper. 1971.Paleolithic and Neolithic stone tools from Europe. Jungpaläolithikum, Kopf eines Tieres. H. 8 cm. Grobkörniges Gestein. Ca. 40000-12000 v. Chr. Franz Erhard Walther’s art practice integrates the concept of participation into sculpture. The art viewer is invited to actively engage in the artwork, either by performing or looking at the work being performed, or by using his or her own imagination to unlock its meaning. Walther has liberated sculpture from its three-dimensional boundaries into the dimension of time and imagination. A pioneer in the development of conceptual art and “relational aesthetics,” Franz Erhard Walther has an immense influence on younger generations of artists all over the world. For Walther, the artwork itself is action in time and space, in most instances made possible through a material object, such as his interactive sewn-canvas sculptures. Right from the beginning of his artistic career Franz Erhard Walther has had solo exhibitions in famous museums such as the MOMA New York (1970), the National Gallery in Berlin (1981), and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany (1977). He participated in now legendary exhibitions, such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969) and the 14th Biennale de Sao Paulo in Brazil (1977). He has appeared four times at the world’s most famous international art show, documenta: documenta 5 (1972), documenta 6 (1977), documenta 7 (1982), documenta 8 (1987). He received the Golden Lion for the best artist in the main curated show of the Venice Biennale 2017 and has had important museum exhibitions all over the world.Jocelyn Wolff: For years now, I have noticed how artists take an in-terest in prehistoric objects and art. These artists include Franz Erhard Walther, who, beyond reading widely on the subject and evincing an unquenchable curiosity, has for many years collected flint artefacts. These objects, whose form and technique fascinate him, also allow him to travel imaginatively in space (the landscape) and in time (hu-man history), which is consistent with his artistic thinking.For Franz Erhard Walther, the focus is on considering an art work as an action, in time and in space, activated either by the viewer's imag-ination on being confronted with the participative character of the object or by a performance according to a precise protocol. For me, there is an incredibly fertile dynamic in the relationship between the kind of time travel that comes through exploring prehistoric objects and the work of Walther.At a time when we are becoming conscious of the possibilities of artificial intelligence, the famous words of French scientist Marcelin Berthelot written not long before the discovery of the atom, come to mind: “From now on, the world is without mystery. Rational concep-tion claims to clarify and comprehend everything.”Over the last few decades, scientific progress in the field of archaeol-ogy, which benefits from the latest technological advances, has been considerable. It allows us to delve into our common past with greater precision, and at the same time envelopes it in ever deeper mystery. For example, I recently read that, within a given time frame, Homo sapiens generated technically similar tools from one group to anoth-er, from one individual to another, while the Neanderthals gave each of their artefacts a unique, individual mark.I am convinced that, when used as a cognitive tool and as a mise- en-abîme of what underlies the singularities and the limits of the exploration of human intelligence and creativity, the readings that artists make of prehistoric artefacts can tell us something about art today. For this latest collaboration between Jean-David Cahn and Jocelyn Wolff, we asked Franz Erhard Walther to develop an exhi-bition according to his personal interpretation of some exceptional prehistoric objects provided by the Cahn Gallery.Jean-David Cahn: Prehistoric artefacts, in the present case mainly stone tools from the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods, exert a great fascination on today’s beholders. The complex interplay between nat-urally occurring stone material and man-made shapes results in tru-ly remarkable objects. Made thousands of years ago, they are no less appealing today than they were necessary then. The longue durée of their impact generates considerable tension between the analytical, (ar-chaeo-)logical gaze of the present and a diffuse sense of past mystery. Is a stone tool a work of art? The positivistic principle according to which “form follows function” is too simplistic for the case in question. Certainly, there are some remarkable solutions to the optimisation of efficiency which are reflected in the choice of material, the shape and surface finishing of the tools. At the same time, it is well known that individual design skills and creative freedom were also exercised. The clear preference of a group of people for certain raw materials (inter-estingly not necessarily those which were the simplest to procure or the easiest to process!) and for distinctive shapes bears witness to a collec-tively shared and binding symbolic language that was not governed by functional necessity alone. Rather, it is closely related to a consciously fostered group identity. The prehistoric export of stone material – most notably silex from Grand Pressigny during the Neolithic period – over great distances and into regions which had their own flint resources also points to an interest in quality and aesthetics far transcending the exigencies of pure survival. The ideological and symbolic appreciation of stone artefacts eventually culminates in the prehistoric use of stone axes as insignia of power, idols and fetishes, and even in the creation of artefacts exclusively for these purposes.The intellectual, physical and emotional engagement with a stone tool begins with its manufacture, continues in its usage and ends with its disposal, its loss or deliberate final deposition, permitting the object to become part of the archaeological record. This exhibition project was conceived as a continuation of our active engagement with the objects, certainly also from an archaeological point of view, but more impor-tantly on an intuitive level. In the interaction between participant and object, through the visual and tactile experience of a stone tool, a di-alogue between past and present, here and there, us and our ancestors unfolds, the exceptional appeal of which lies in its very subjectivity.LE MONDE EST DÉSORMAIS SANS MYSTÈREFROM NOW ON, THE WORLD IS WITHOUT MYSTERYFranz Erhard Walther invited to the Cahn Gallery during Art Basel 2018A joint project by Jocelyn Wolff and Jean-David CahnOpening: June 11, 8–10 p.m. Exhibition: June 12–17, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.Cahn Gallery · Malzgasse 23 · BaselJean-David Cahn AG . Malzgasse 23 · CH-4052 Basel+41 61 271 67 55 · mail@cahn.ch · cahn.chGalerie Jocelyn Wolff · 78 rue Julien-Lacroix · F-75020 Paris +33 1 42 03 05 65 · galeriewolff.comNext >