For nine days, TEFAF Maastricht showcases everything from Old Masters paintings, antiques and jewellery to photography, 20th-century design and contemporary art at the Maastricht Exhibition & Conference Centre in the Netherlands.
Want to know more about TEFAF Maastricht? Watch the film from the 2017 edition hosted by Pontus Silfverstolpe, founder of Barnebys here:
"TEFAF Maastricht is considered to be the world's foremost art and antique fair," says Silfverstolpe. "It is an extraordinary show where arts and crafts from the last millennia attract collectors and museum experts from all corners of the globe."
This year, 280 art and antique dealers from twenty countries are on site. Among them are Swedish merchants Modernity, Jackson's and Åmell's Art Store, which sells Scandinavian 20th century design, as well as art from the past 500 years.
"It is actually quite incredible that Sweden has three traders as places as exhibitors at the fair, where the competition is stiff," continues Silfverstolpe. "The waiting time is often several years if the company is even approved by the strictly reviewing jury that judges every exhibitor and object every year."
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One of the highlights this year is The Anglesey Tiara, which is on display at Hancock's booth. It is a Victorian tiara, which can also be worn as a necklace, dating to around the 1890s. The accessory was worn by British author Marjorie Paget (1883-1946) when George VI of Britain was crowned in 1937. Paget was later photographed with the tiara for Vogue by world-renowned photographer Cecil Beaton.
Another object in the spotlight is a work by Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931). The Dutch artist was the founder of the style group De Stijl, which distinguished the use of vertical and horizontal lines as well as the primary colours, together with artists like Piet Mondrian. The work shown in Galerie Gmurzynska's booth is called Dancing Wallpainting in Strasbourg (1926-27) and is made in gouache on cardboard.
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Van Doesburg was commissioned, with the artists Jean Arp and Sophie Tauber-Arp, to renovate and furnish the historic Aubette building in Strasbourg, France. The project became one of De Stijl's most iconic. The work on display at TEFAF is a drawing for the cafe they decorated in Aubette.
The Hungarian architect Oskar Kaufmann (1873-1956) was most active in Berlin during the early 1900s. In 1917 he undertook a mission in Wrocław, Poland, where he furnished a villa. At TEFAF, French design retailer Eric Philippe will exhibit a pair of gilded red glass appliqués from the villa in Wroclaw.
"Eric Phillipe is one of the dealers who has been marketing Swedish design in the world for a couple of decades," says Silfverstolpe. "He sold furniture by Axel Einar Hjorth to the world's foremost interior designers before most of us 'contemporary Swedes' knew who he was. This year he shows items, among other things, from Oskar Kaufmann who was one of Karl Lagerfeld's favorite designers."
TEFAF Maastricht runs between 7-15 March. Buy your tickets here.
