Frieze Masters, 3-6 October 2019
Fifty-four objects were placed along a 4.6 billion year timeline to illustrate the continuity of matter, materials and ideas. Starting with meteorites and ending with a group of elephant bird eggs, the exhibition charted the history of our planet, the evolution of our species and the development of culture.
Rocky debris accumulates, forming the first planets. Some leftovers are trapped between Mars and Jupiter, creating the asteroid belt; the source of nearly all meteorites.
Sculptural iron meteorite.
Impact date, 12th February 1947.
Recovered from the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, Russia.
Lunar meteorite.
Impact date uncertain.
Recovered from the Sahara Desert in 2015.
Classified and recorded by Dr. Anthony Irving as NWA10495.
The building blocks of life may have been seeded from extraterrestrial worlds.
Murchison meteorite.
Carbonaceous chondrite, rich in extraterrestrial organic compounds.
Impact date 28th September 1969
Recovered from Murchison, Victoria, Australia.
Ex. American Meteorite Laboratory.
Cyanobacteria, simple photosynthesising lifeforms, have now produced so much oxygen that It can no longer be contained within Earth’s early oceans. It begins to escape into the atmosphere, poisoning nearly all anaerobic life but paving the way for oxygen dependent lifeforms to develop.
Banded iron formation.
Alternating haematite, red jasper and tiger’s eye.
Formed 2.9 billion years ago during the ‘mass rusting’ of the oceans.
Collected from Ord Ranges, nr. Port Hedland, Western Australia.
In the Cambrian Period a massive diversification of life on Earth occurs. This apparently sudden appearance of complex life has been called an evolutionary “big bang”.
Wenlock limestone.
Remains of Cambrian life; gastropods, brachiopods and bryozoa.
Formed 420 million years ago.
Collected from Shropshire, England.
Fossilised seed fern (Neuropteris dussartii)
Upper Carboniferous, 359 - 300 million years before present.
Recovered from the Piesberg quarry, NW Germany.
On land, reptiles diversify to spectacular effect. The largest creatures to walk the Earth evolve; from giant herbivores to ferocious predators.
Allosaurus - The apex predator of the Jurassic.
Fossilised Allosaurus claw.
Late Jurassic, 150 million years before present.
Discovered in Big Horn County, Wyoming, USA.
By the late Cretaceous the continents resemble their current form, although North America is split by an enormous sea called the Western Interior Seaway.
Ammonite (Placenticeras costatum)
Fossilised Ammonite (Ammolite).
Late Cretaceous, 75 million years before present.
Excavated from the Bearpaw formation of the prehistoric Western Interior Seaway, Alberta, Canada.
Luke Jr., a fossilised partial Triceratops prorsus skull
Late Cretaceous, 67 million years before present.
Discovered by Luke Phelps in Garfield County, Montana, November 2017.
An enormous meteorite strikes the Earth, causing the extinction of 75% of all species, including the dinosaurs. The great age of reptiles is over and the age of mammals is about to begin.
A complete “re-entry” tektite
Olive-green glass.
Formed from vitrified Earth following a cataclysmic impact.
Impact date circa 800,000 years before present.
Discovered in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia.
During the early-mid Eocene, much of the Earth resembles a tropical rainforest, with palm trees found as far north as Alaska.
Fossilised giant lily
Eocene, 50 million years before present.
From the Green River formation, Wyoming, USA.
In 1667 Nicolaus Steno was the first to propose that “tongue stones” were in fact teeth, from a giant shark. This observation led to the understanding that fossils must be evidence of previous life on Earth. We now know that the shark in question was a Megalodon.
Megalodon (Charcharocles megalodon) tooth
25 - 2 million years before present.
Recovered from a riverbed, Georgia, USA.
Handaxe.
Knapped flint.
Lower Paleolithic, circa 600,000 - 500,000 BC.
Found on Happisburgh beach, Norfolk, June 7th 2018.
Neanderthals are associated with smaller flint tools, rather than large hand axes. They shared many characteristics with modern humans and may have interbred. Some are known to have collected shells and raptor talons.
Neanderthal tools
Flaked jasper.
Mousterian, circa 60,000 years ago.
Ex. collection of M. Marchet, subsequently Celtic & Prehistoric Museum, Ireland.
Human hunter-gatherers begin to cultivate grasses. Initially this occurs in the Fertile Crescent, where wheat and barley are indigenous. Humans move from a life of foraging to one based on food surplus and permanent settlement.
Greek Neolithic idol.
Marble.
6th - 4th Millennium BC.
American private collection, acquired 1990s.
Cypriot farmers work the copper deposits they find on the surface of the Earth into tools and jewellery.
Cruciform idol.
Picrolite.
Middle Chalcolithic, 3800 - 2500 BC.
Ex. Collection of the anthropologist Desmond Morris, prior to 1985.
While South Eastern Europe is experimenting with the revolutionary new material of copper, flint axes are still being made in Scandinavia to clear forests for farmland.
Polished axes.
Knapped and polished flint.
Scandinavian Neolithic, circa 3000 - 2000 BC.
Ex. European collections, prior to 1970.
Using a pointed stylus to make impressions in soft clay, language can be expressed in the form of symbols.
Proto-cuneiform tablet, with an account of monthly rations.
Sun baked clay.
Late Uruk period, circa 3100 - 3000 BC.
Ex. Collection of Prof. Hans and Marie-Louise Erlenmeyer, acquired 1950s.
Possibly the world’s longest reigning monarch.
Relief with offering-bearers.
Carved and painted limestone.
Egyptian Old Kingdom, 6th Dynasty, circa 2323 - 2150 BC.
Ex. Elizabeth Stafford collection, acquired 1954.
Cyprus becomes the world’s largest exporter of copper for use in bronze production.
Plank idol.
Red polished ware pottery with lime-filled incisions.
Early - Middle Bronze Age, circa 2100 - 1800 BC.
From the collection of Charles Gillet (1879 - 1972), acquired prior to 1965. Subsequently in the collection of the anthropologist Desmond Morris.
Egypt reaches the peak of its power.
Shabti for Iweferbaku.
Carved wood with remnants of gold and blue gesso and Egyptian blue.
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, 1550 - 1295 BC.
Ex. British private collection, acquired 1930s.
The collapse of Mycenaean Greece heralds the beginning of the Greek Dark Age. In Egypt the New Kingdom is also in decline.
Ceremonial Sword.
Bronze.
Northwest Persia, Iron Age, 1300 - 800 BC.
Ex. French collection.
Egypt is mostly divided in the centuries after the New Kingdom. It never reaches its former glory, being controlled by a succession of Nubian, Persian, Greek and eventually Roman rulers.
Relief depicting a Nile god.
Granite.
Ptolemaic period, circa 285–246 BC.
With Maurice Nahman, acquired 1910. Subsequently with Ernest Brummer, purchased from the above in Cairo, 1928.
Homer, Iliad
The hoplite, or citizen-soldier, is the most important infantry unit in Archaic and Classical Greece. Most wealthy citizens are expected to purchase their own armour and are called upon to fight in times of need.
Corinthian helmet.
Bronze.
Archaic Greece, circa 650 BC.
Ex. early 20th century collection. Subsequently Axel Guttmann (1944 - 2001) collection.
Croesus issues the first standardised coinage in gold and Coinage silver.
Double siglos from Lydia.
Silver.
Circa 550 BC.
Ex. Jean Vinchon, Paris, April 1999, Lot 212.
Philip II comes to power in Macedonia, reforms the army and eventually establishes hegemony over Greece after the Battle of Chaeronea.
Tetradrachm in the name of Alexander the Great.
Silver.
323 - 319 BC.
Ex. Collection of Henry de Nanteuil de la Norville (1876 - 1941).
Alexander the Great dies, leaving his enormous empire, stretching from the Adriatic sea to the Indus River, to be split up among his successors, the Diadochi.
Stater, issued under Philip III, bearing the portrait of Alexander.
Gold.
Circa 322 - 319 BC.
Ex. A. Tkalec, Zurich, 29th February, 2000, lot 36.
The Ptolemaic kingdom reaches its height. Ptolemy III expands the library of Alexandria and promotes religious freedom, constructing the Serapeum at Alexandria.
Portrait of Ptolemy III.
Marble.
3rd century BC.
With Joseph Altounian prior to 1922. Acquired by Ernest Brummer from the above.
Internal confrontations and political manoeuvers characterise the late Republic. Conflicts involving Julius Caesar and Pompey lead to a civil war, the aftermath of which effectively ends the Republic and leads to the Imperial age.
Denarius celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Silver.
Northern Greece, circa 43 - 42 AD.
Ex. Swiss collection, prior to 1970. Published in Cahn, EIDibus MARtiis, Q. Tic. 18, 1989, 29a.
Herodian, 3rd century
Inscription for Bassus, a veteran of the Roman Army, retired to Britain.
Carved purbeck marble.
Mid 1st - Early 2nd century AD.
Found in Dorchester in 2016, whilst undertaking building works.
Jewish rebels take control of Jerusalem and set up a revolutionary government. The future Emperor Vespasian and his son, Titus, are sent to quash the revolt.
Shekel from year 4 of the Great Revolt
Silver.
Circa 69 - 70 AD.
Ex. Collection of Pastor Sahlberg, acquired 1906.
Emperor Vespasian sees a vision when visiting the Serapeum in Alexandria.
Monumental head of Serapis.
Marble.
2nd century AD.
Ex. Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Jozon- Rabourdin-Choppin de Janvry, February 23rd, 1981.
Sestertius of Titus, struck to commemorate victory in the Jewish war.
Orichalcum. 72 AD.
European private collection, formed in the mid 20th century.
Pius’ reign coincides with one of the most peaceful periods in Rome’s history.
Two part fleet diploma for L. Petronio, issued on his discharge from the Roman Navy and granting him citizenship.
Bronze.
143 AD.
Reputedly found in Bulgaria in the 20th century.
Rome’s first Christian Emperor.
Fragment of an early Hebrew Bible containing Genesis 4:1- 23.
Black ink on vellum. 9th - 10th century AD.
From the Cairo Genizah. Subsequently in the collection of David Solomon Sassoon (1880 - 1942).
A newly proposed geological epoch characterised by human impact on the environment.
Three intact eggs from the elephant bird (Aepyornis maximus). Extinct circa 17th century.
Egg shell.
French private collections, acquired early 20th century.
