CQ1EditorialCahn’s Quarterly 3/2018English EditionWhy Contemporary Art? Dear readersDuring Art Basel in June this year the Cahn Gallery staged an exhibition featuring art-works by Franz Erhard Walther in combi-nation with archaeological objects, which much to my delight drew a very positive response from visitors. It was a memorable experience for me to partake in the cura-torial work entailed by this project (see the feature in the centre of the magazine), and together with the many hours spent explor-ing Art Basel, it triggered a process of re-flection, which helped me understand more fully why, in the past two years, I had re-peatedly shown exhibitions with ancient and contemporary art. For me ancient art is vibrant and alive. Al-though Antiquity as a historical period has long come to an end, it continues to influ-ence our society and our way of thinking. The critical discussion and qualification of science's claims to objectivity are certainly not new, and obviously it must be admitted that a degree of subjectivity is also found in the field of classical studies. As a trained ar-chaeologist I realise that academia does not have sovereignty over the interpretation of the past. Rather, findings and insights are dependent on the questions posed by re-searchers, on the sources available to them, on the school of thought they belong to, as well as on their point of view – and not least on the new data and research results.To my mind, this dynamic process is not prob-lematic. Quite the contrary, I find it fascinat-ing how society is able engage with the relics of the past over and over again, constantly reaching new conclusions and, on occasion, even redefining itself. For this reason, I invite only contemporary artists to participate in my art projects. I am interested in how artists living in today’s world interact with Antiqui-ty, in their perception and understanding of the past and the manner in which they link it to the present. I would like to emphasise that I do not represent these contemporary artists professionally. Therefore, the projects are always organised jointly with a specialist in the contemporary field. It has been a great pleasure to work together with Jocelyn Wolff and his Paris-based gallery these past few years. Likewise, I was extremely pleased with the way our Ariane Ballmer, an archaeologist specialised in prehistory, managed the project with Franz Erhard Walther with much enthu-siasm and without prejudice. Her intellectual openness and relaxed detachment contrib-uted significantly to making this project the success it was.I find it striking that in the days of my fa-ther, Herbert A. Cahn, scholars, museum directors, curators and professors regular-ly visited art fairs and gallery exhibitions, sharing their enthusiasm for the archaeolog-ical objects on display with art dealers in lively discussions. Nowadays, archaeologi-cal objects have been assigned a very dif-ferent significance and are often seen first and foremost by many scholars as bearers of factual information, while their artistic val-ue is considered far less important. For me, however, it is the fascination of the object for its own sake and not merely as a means to an end that is crucial. This is why I have turned towards contemporary art. Working together with living artists makes it possi-ble to approach archaeological artefacts in a very different, intuitive manner.Franz Erhard Walther (right) and Jean-David Cahn (left) during the installation of the exhibition “Le monde est désor-mais sans mystère” in the Cahn Gallery in June 2018.CQ2Cahn’s Quarterly 3/2018ing on the ground and the victor is awaiting the decisive shout: “missum!” for mercy or “iugula!” (“Slit the throat!”). The spectators have already turned their thumbs down, but the emperor, as ultimate arbiter, is hesitating. In general, the thumb position is subject to controversy, and Pollice verso simply means “turned thumb”, leaving the direction open. According to Junkelmann, Gérôme’s paint-ing exerted a great influence, and although the armour was not properly assembled, the painting reflected the current state of knowl-edge in the 19th century. Some historical facts: Originating in Cam-panian and Lucanian funerary rites, the gladiatorial games, which were termed mun-era, meaning a duty or gift to the deceased, became immensely popular in Rome. They were instrumentalised by members of the Roman upper classes to gain popularity and to acquire political influence. In the 1st century B.C. the frequency and scale of the games became so excessive that, following the murder of Caesar in 44 B.C., the senate intervened on behalf of the state. Augustus reformed the gladiatorial entertainments and decreed that the munera were an imperi-al privilege, thereby connecting them to the A Matter of Life and DeathGladiators in Popular Imagination and Historical RealityBy Gerburg Ludwigcult of the emperor. They lasted into the 4th century A.D. when the increasing pressure on the Empire from the outside, financial problems and the rise of Christianity gradu-ally led to their decline.How did one become a gladiator? The lanista, a professional entrepreneur who owned and directed a gladiator school (ludus), bought slaves and prisoners of war. Furthermore, prisoners and criminals could be condemned to life as a gladiator (“damnatio ad ludum gladiatorium”). As food and medical care were good, some individuals even chose this profession of their own free will. The train-ing closely resembled military practices. Wooden weapons were used by beginners at first to fight an “opponent” personified by a pillar (palus) and then, as they grew more proficient, in single combat with fel-low gladiators. The lanista rented out glad-iators to the organisers of entertainments. Although the average life expectancy of a gladiator was only 18-25 years, some achieved fame and fortune and could even, on occasion, gain their freedom.Junkelmann conducted research on the equipment used by gladiators, studying an-cient images and weapons unearthed in the Casa dei Gladiatori in Pompeii and testing his findings in practice. A carefully chosen com-bination of protective elements worn on the body and evenly balanced weapons of attack and defence prevented the all too rapid death of one of the combatants, thus guaranteeing a suspenseful and thrilling fight. At the same time, depending on the experience and fit-ness of the opponents, a fatal outcome was not ruled out. The basic outfit of a gladiator included shield and sword, a wool or linen loincloth (subligaculum), a broad leather belt (balteus), leather or linen padded armbands (manica) and bronze greaves to protect the legs (ocreae). Mosaics with gladiators found in Zliten (Libya) and Kaiseraugst (Switzer-land) represent the typical matched pairs re-cruited from eight different gladiator types: retiarius versus secutor and thraex or hoplo-machus versus murmillo, as well as pairs of provocatores, essedarii and equites.Recent research conducted on cranial bones and teeth from male skeletons buried in the “Panem et circenses”: This satirical phrase that was coined by Juvenal in his Saturae (10, 81) almost inevitably calls to mind the world of gladiator combats. Iconic works like Jean-Léon Gérôme’s history painting Pollice verso (fig. 1), Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel The Last Days of Pompeii or Stanley Kubrick’s film Spartacus have shaped our concept of gladiators. Nowadays, Ridley Scott’s epic drama Gladiator has almost become a fixture on prime time television. Scott laid claim to the authenticity of the costumes and weapons used in the film, but as an archaeologist one raises a criti-cal eyebrow at such statements. Marcus Junkelmann, a historian and experimental archaeologist with practical experience in the exercises performed by legionaries and gladiators, had hardly a good word to say about Scott’s film. In his opinion the his-torical and geographical range of the arms and armour used was far too great and the fighting technique resembled “mass slaugh-ter” (Junkelmann – 2000, 8). Only the rec-reation of the suggestive atmosphere in the arena was a success in his eyes.Gérôme’s painting impressively captures the sizzling moment of decision. The loser is ly-Fig. 1: Jean-Léon Gérôme, Pollice verso, oil on canvas, 1872, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.Recent Research FindingsCQ3Cahn’s Quarterly 3/2018gladiator cemetery in Ephesos (Turkey) re-vealed that the helmets of varying shapes worn by gladiators did indeed afford a cer-tain degree of protection against blows in-flicted by their opponents. Using techniques developed in forensic pathology, including microradiography, computer tomography and microscopic tissue analysis, scientists were able to determine that the deceased persons reached a maximum age of 20-30 years. Furthermore, they were able to iden-tify different types of cranial injuries. These included well-healed antemortal cranial blunt force traumata, sharp force traumata inflicted by swords and daggers as well as puncture wounds caused by swords, daggers and tridents. In a second group of injuries, termed perimortal traumata, the cranial bones were destroyed or the weapons pierced the dura mater, a thick membrane surround-ing the brain – both with lethal outcome.Forty male skeletons found in a necropolis in York (England) – presumably likewise a gladiator cemetery – provide remarkable cor-roborative evidence for the findings made in Ephesos, although the atypically large num-ber of decapitations in the York burials pose a riddle that archaeologists still need to solve. The retiarius on offer in the Cahn Gallery (fig. 2), the only type of gladiator without a helmet, protects himself with the prominent-ly raised shoulder guard (galerus) and ma-nica on his left arm. Keeping his distance, the lightly armed gladiator first attempts to throw a net (rete) over his opponent, the se-cutor with his smooth, closed helmet, sword and large, rectangular shield, in order to force him to the ground. The pair then en-gages in hand-to-hand combat with trident (tridens) and short sword. The defeated glad-iator in Gérôme’s Pollice verso is a retiarus. On the pyxis also on offer at the Cahn Gal-lery (fig. 3), a heavily armed hoplomachus is represented twice in fine relief. He keeps his adversary, a murmillo who is not depicted, at bay. The arms and armour of the murmillo are similar to those of the secutor whereas the hoplomachus fights with a lance (hasta), a small round shield (parmula) and a short sword. His attire consists of a manica around his right arm (on our pyxis around both arms), long trousers and ocreae, which reach above his knees. On losing his lance, he uses his sword in close combat.Gladiatorial combat was a strictly regulated, highly athletic and extremely risky form of swordsmanship that required a great deal of practice. For many spectators, gladiators embodied esteemed moral qualities such as fearlessness in the face of death, strength, courage, discipline and perseverance. This may have been one more reason why they were so enthralled by the action in the arena. Bibliography: M. Junkelmann, Das Spiel mit dem Tod. So kämpften Roms Gladiatoren (Mainz 2000). F. Kanz-K. Grossschmidt, Head injuries of Roman gladiators, Fo-rensic Science International 160 (2006) 207-216. K. Hunter-Mann, Driffield Terrace. An Insight Report, York Archaeological Trust for Excavation and Research (York 2015)Imprint PublisherJean-David Cahn Malzgasse 23 CH-4052 Basel +41 61 271 67 55 mail@cahn.ch www.cahn.chISSN 2624-6376EditorsJean-David Cahn Yvonne YiuAuthorsJean-David CahnMartin FlasharVincent Geerling Ulrike HaaseGerburg LudwigYvonne YiuTranslationsBronwen SaundersYvonne YiuPhotosNiklaus BürginVincent Geerling Ulrike HaaseMarina MilellaYvonne YiuDesign and LayoutAriane BallmerMichael JoosYvonne YiuPrinterDruckerei Deiner www.druckerei-deiner.deFig. 2: A RETIARIUS. H. 9.2 cm. Bronze, solid cast. Roman, 2nd cent. A.D. CHF 7,600GalleryWelcome! We would like to extend a warm welcome to Lillian Bartlett Stoner, who joined the gal-lery team in August 2018. Lillian is a clas-sical archaeologist specialised in Greek and Roman art with a special interest in Attic vase painting. At the gallery she will be re-sponsible for the cataloguing of objects, es-pecially vases, provenance research and the organisation of fairs. Due to her strong ties to the USA she will also act as liaison for the American market.Lillian received her Bachelor of Arts at Harvard University, where she was super-vised by David G. Mitten. She continued her studies at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, attaining her PhD with the doctoral thesis “Hair in Greek Art: An Anthropological Approach”. Lilian has worked as adjunct professor at Fordham University and as a research assistant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Greek and Roman department. She has received numerous awards and was Panofsky Fellow at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU.Fig. 3: A PYXIS WITH HOPLOMACHUS. H. 7.7 cm. Bone. Roman, 1st-2nd cent. A.D. CHF 3,800CQ4Cahn’s Quarterly 3/2018The great achievement of the UNESCO 1970 Convention was to make art and antique dealers clean up their act where necessary and to induce organizations like the British Antiq-uities Dealers’ Association (ADA) and the In-ternational Association of Dealers in Ancient Art (IADAA) to introduce strict codes of ethics and due diligence rules. However, in recent years, art and antique dealers have suffered from the fact that in the debate no distinction is made between illicit activities, which we all want to fight, and the legitimate trade that has a tradition dating back hundreds of years.Increased awareness and the measures gener-ated by UNESCO 1970 have helped dramati-cally diminish the trafficking of cultural goods over the past 45 years, and it is time to ac-knowledge that. The focus of UNESCO’s efforts should turn more to tackling the problem at the roots, in source countries like Syria and Iraq, but also in Egypt and Turkey. Most of the attention has been focused on the return of cultural property, thus fighting the symptoms and not the causes of trafficking. But all the signatories of the convention have also com-mitted themselves to obligations, the most im-portant of which are formulated in Article 5. Art. 5 b commits these countries to “estab-lishing and keeping up to date, on the basis of a national inventory of protected property, a list of important public and private cultur-al property whose export would constitute an appreciable impoverishment of the national cultural heritage.” For decades, the art world has been waiting in vain for those lists, which would help improve due diligence processes. However, with the exception of a few coun-tries like The Netherlands and Germany, there are to my knowledge no lists available from Preserving Find Spots in Source Countries any of the source countries. UNESCO needs to help those countries to fulfil their obligations. With the tragedies unfolding over the past few years in Iraq, Syria and recently Yemen and Libya, now is the time to do so.The formulating of the benefits and obliga-tions from the UNESCO Convention has been a long and careful process. Therefore it is im-portant to point to some more obligations, formulated in Art. 5 d, “organizing the su-pervision of archaeological excavations, en-suring the preservation in situ of certain cul-tural property, and protecting certain areas reserved for future archaeological research.” If source countries had fulfilled these obliga-tions, severe damage to archaeological sites would have been prevented, thus protecting the objects in their context, in situ, as the convention obliges. That is crucial for archae-ology. Once the context of an object is lost, the object has lost its archaeological value forever. Such objects might be returned to the country of origin, but this will not give them back their archaeological value. This means that prevention by protection, as clearly for-By Vincent GeerlingThe DebateExcavations at Dura-Europos, Syria, in June 2016. mulated in Art. 5, is of vital importance. An-other obligation, under Art. 5 f, commits sig-natories to “taking educational measures to stimulate and develop respect for the cultural heritage.” I would argue that helping source countries to fulfil the obligations they signed up to years ago should be the primary aim of UNESCO in the years to come.During the TAIEX-PI Workshop on Protecting Iraqi Cultural Heritage and Fighting Terror-ism hosted by the European Union in Brussels on 30-31 May 2018, I gave a presentation in which I argued that the real challenge will be thinking outside the box, and I asked them not to dismiss the ideas I presented without first giving them due consideration. I pointed out that the majority of objects are only of importance for archaeology if they are found in undisturbed circumstances, so preserva-tion in situ is crucial. Everybody understands that the 30,000 archaeological sites in Iraq, for example, can never be protected by the police alone; the state needs the help of the local population. However, if one realizes that “in England alone there are almost 20,000 scheduled monuments” (cf. Cahn's Quarterly 1/2018, pp. 4-5) that are protected by law – a set of regulations that are mostly respected – there is no reason why such protection could not be set up in “source countries”. To this ef-fect, the local population should be educated about the importance of the past, as UNESCO formulated 45 years ago. Experience shows that if locals take pride in their past it will help prevent them from stealing their own history, and they are more likely to protect it. If such policies are carried out properly, eventually many of these places could gener-ate tourism and with that prosperity.In source countries, people find ancient ob-jects almost every day during agricultural The TAIEX-PI Workshop on Protecting Iraqi Cultural Heritage and Fighting Terrorism in Brussels, 30-31 May 2018.CQ5Cahn’s Quarterly 3/2018Vincent Geerling began collecting an-cient art 40 years ago. In 1995, he turned his hobby into his profession by founding Archea Ancient Art in Amsterdam. He has been a board member of IADAA for many years and its chairman since 2013.and building activities. Possessing such ob-jects is strictly forbidden, but these people are poor, so in all probability they sell the objects quickly to merchants. It would be far more productive if the law allowed the regulated sale of unimportant chance finds. Authorities would not have to punish these people, but could reward them for reporting their finds, thereby helping to create a viable registered database of objects. The state should give the honest finder a fair share of the proceeds, say 25% of estimated market value. In this way people would be encouraged to co-operate and support correct reporting procedures.Yes, I do strongly believe that the sale of un-important chance finds should be allowed in source countries, following the example of the UK and The Netherlands. The cur-rent restrictive regime with severe penalties clearly fails to prevent trafficking, as history has shown, so why not try something else? Source countries could hugely benefit from following the example of the Portable Antiq-uities Scheme (PAS) in the United Kingdom, which has enjoyed twenty years of success already. To give you an idea of the numbers, I quote from the 2016 report: “81,914 finds were recorded; a total of 1,303,504 on the PAS database to date. (…) 90% of finds were found on cultivated land, where they are sus-ceptible to plough damage and artificial and natural corrosion.” Such numbers could nev-er have been achieved without the help of the population and I believe people will be happy to help. Reported and recorded finds that are not important could even be exported with a licence, and the proceeds used to finance excavations on behalf of the state.I proposed during the EU workshop that the European Union, with the help of UNESCO experts, should create a task force to support source countries with setting up the systems needed for this vital protection of archaeo-logical sites. By Jean-David CahnA Cypriote HeadCypriote sculptures have a fascination all of their own which is in part due to the unique way in which Levantine and Phoenician in-fluences blend with the art of Greece to form an independent artistic language. It would, therefore, be wrong to locate Cypriote art on the periphery of that of Greece. As there were no marble quarries on Cyprus, sculptors used limestone, a softer and more brittle material that required a somewhat different working technique. Despite the constraints posed by this more humble stone, the Cypriote artists succeeded in creating great masterpieces. I would like to present this well-preserved Archaic head, not only because it is of ex-ceptionally high quality but also because it has a superb collecting history. It formed part of the collection of Louis de Clercq (1836-1901) which was published in 1908 by An-dré de Ridder, the then conservator of Greek and Roman art at the Louvre. The fine, soft A VOTIVE HEAD OF A YOUTH. H. 12 cm. Limestone. Cypriote, 1st quarter of 5th cent. B.C. (Cypro-Archaic II). For-merly Coll. Louis de Clercq (1836-1901), Oignies, France. Thereafter, Swiss priv. coll., acquired in the 1960s. Published: A. de Ridder, Collection de Clercq, Catalogue Tome V, Les Antiquites Chypriotes, Paris 1908, no. 66. CHF 36,000face with sharply drawn, almond-shaped eyes and distinctive smile is offset by the energetically and somewhat more summari-ly sculpted hair that is adorned by a wreath of upright laurel leaves. The sculpture was made about a generation after the Archaic Style had passed its peak in Greece, as this style flourished in Cyprus slightly later. The head captivates the eye on account of the almost perfect balance of its overall shape and the visual excitement engendered by the contrasts in its design, such as the tension between the delicately modelled face and the abstract rendering of the hair.This artwork is a lucky find as it is absolutely on a par with Greek sculpture. Greek marble heads of the Archaic Period of a compara-ble artistic quality and state of preservation – not to mention provenance – are all but non-existent on the art market. I can there-fore warmly recommend this Cypriote head.My ChoiceCQ6Cahn’s Quarterly 3/2018The Emperor’s New Clothes – Garments in AntiquityA FRAGMENT OF A SARCOPHAGUS. H. 50 cm, W. 34 cm. Marble. The upper parts of two figures are preserved on the far left section of this sarcophagus front, both facing sharply to right with expressions of surprise or consternation. Mercury, wearing petasos (winged?) and a cloak typically secured with a large pin at right shoulder, is readily iden-tifiable by the top of his messenger's wand (caduceus), carved in shallow relief at mid-field overlying the folds of a mantle that has been raised, sail-like, aloft. In front of him and to his proper right is a female companion, doubtless a goddess, clothed in chiton and heavy cloak, her long locks of hair drawn back and bound into a chignon, with loose tresses trailing onto her shoulder. Scene bordered above by a narrow projecting moulding; left edge regularly finished. Roughly worked surfaces at back preserving part of the curved left end of sarcophagus's interior. Noses of both figures restored, as well as upper lip of the female figure. These figures in all likelihood once formed part of a multi-figural scene of the discovery and seduction of Rhea Silvia by the god Mars, by whom she conceived and gave birth to the twins Romulus and Remus, legendary founders of the city of Rome. Formerly part of the decorative scheme of a villa in Aachen, Germany, 1950s-1960s. Roman, Early Severan, 1st quarter of 3rd cent. A.D. CHF 26,000A DRAPED STATUETTE OF A YOUNG WOMAN. H. 20 cm. Terracotta. The young woman is shown with her right leg engaged and left arm angled. She wears a long chiton, with her feet clad in shoes peeking out from underneath it, and over it a loose, heavily pleated himation that co-vers her whole body and is drawn up over her neck and head. She holds the folds of her mantle gathered up in her right hand. Finely worked facial features. Mould-made and finished by hand. Veil slightly worn, otherwise un-damaged. Formerly priv. coll. Lyon, France, 1980s. Greek, probably Tanagra, 4th-2nd cent. B.C. CHF 5,800A THYMIATHERION. H. 22.8 cm. Terracotta, painted. Female figure. With head held high, she gazes straight ahead. Flat face with discreet modelling in the area of the chin, eyes, and eyebrows. The nose is long, slender and pointed. Incised circles with brown dots painted on in the middle for eyes. Painted eyebrows. Appliqued tresses or braids that once converged at the lower back. Upper body and arms concealed underneath a shawl-like garment which is stretched across the back and whose two ends come together in a point at the front. Ears and hands with perfo-rations, presumably to attach jewellery and other attributes made of a different material. Lower part of the figure with flared, bell-shaped skirt. Clothes painted with lines and simple bands of maeander. The band of small, incised circles (possibly indicating a waist chain) in the lower back area disappears underneath the shawl at hip height on the front side of the figure. On her head the figure carries a large, shallow dish, which is painted both inside and out with encircling lines, hanging bundles of lines and rows of dots, and is pierced with five holes around the edge. Function: incense-holder from a cultic context. Largely intact, worn in various places, hands and parts of the appliqued coiffure broken off and missing. Priv. coll. M. S., Basel, since 1980. Daunian (Subgeometric III), ca. 400-300 B.C. CHF 8,800New Artworks Monthlyon www.cahn.ch Jungpaläolithikum, Kopf eines Tieres. H. 8 cm. Grobkörniges Gestein. Ca. 40000-12000 v. Chr. It was not difficult for the Parisian gallery owner Jocelyn Wolff to win me over for an exhibition project with Franz Erhard Walther. Indeed, the oeuvre of this 79-year-old luminary of international contemporary art seems to cry out for an encounter with archaeological artefacts.Whenever I curate an exhibition in my gallery, it is a matter of principle for me not to work with a preconceived plan. Rather, I take the liberty of reacting spontaneously to the given circumstances, in this case the works by Walther that were placed at my disposal by Galerie Wolff (Paris) and the Franz Erhard Walther Foundation (Fulda). These comprised drawings as well as three-dimensional objects made of cotton fabric, foam material, cardboard and paper. For my part, I decided to engage in a dialogue with Walther’s works by means of an inventory of prehistoric artefacts, especially Palaeolithic and Neolithic stone tools. We then added a selection of exceptional ancient art works, mainly marbles and bronzes, as well as Coptic textiles. Franz Erhard Walther was personally involved in the setting up of the exhibition, as was his wife, Susanne Walther, who is also the director of the Stiftung Franz Erhard Walther. Thanks to the flexible approach to established exhibition concepts evinced by all those involved it was possible to create a completely new type of presentation which in turn enabled the beholder to view the artworks in an unaccustomed and stimulating context. Walther’s art was literally presented in a new light, and the archaeological objects were displayed from a different perspective. The resulting “actions” (in a figurative sense) created connecting lines and delineated boundaries, caused consternation and led to moments of recognition, provided food for thought and by no means least invited the viewer to savour both the beauty of the works and their aura. Ultimately, what could be sensed in this dense web of temporal, spatial, aesthetic and thematic references, was the "mystery" of the world and with it a daring antithesis to the provocative title of the exhibition.That Franz Erhard Walther presided over the opening of the exhibition was highly appreciated not just by me but by numerous guests who know the artist personally. I will remember the audience as expectant and generous, eager to explore and hungry for knowledge. The visitors were at first surprised by the juxtaposition of artworks from such very different periods, but then displayed a refreshing ease and openness to the situation. Their great respect for the objects and their creators was readily felt. It was touching to witness lovers of ancient and contemporary art alike undauntedly and enthusiastically embarking on an exploration of "foreign" territory and thereby discovering more about the world and about themselves. Report onLE MONDE EST DÉSORMAIS SANS MYSTÈREFROM NOW ON, THE WORLD IS WITHOUT MYSTERYFranz Erhard Walther at Cahn Gallery during Art Basel 2018A joint project by Jocelyn Wolff and Jean-David CahnCQ9Cahn’s Quarterly 3/2018Next >