Dealers often have a special affinity with the objects that come into their possession. As a result they are sometimes conflicted between
placing the object to their inventory for sale or retaining it for themselves. The some of the works of art in this exhibition were initially collected
by Sleiman Aboutaam and remained in the family where they were admired and studied by his sons, Ali and Hicham. Inspired by
their father, who instilled in his sons a great love for and first-hand knowledge of antiquities, Ali and Hicham, as the second generation of
antiquarians, continued their father’s practice and added works of art to that core, private collection of faience objects.
We think that this collective attraction to faience resonates with the properties of this special material, whose scintillating, reflective characteristics imbue their surfaces with a sparkling quality often associated with gem stones. It is no wonder, then, that the ancients regarded
faience as a privileged material.