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Dealers

Rupert Wace Ancient Art

London, United Kingdom · founded 5 February 1988 · closed 21 November 2021

London dealer in Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek and Roman antiquities, opened in 1988 by Rupert Wace and shown at TEFAF; Princeton acquired a Cypro-Archaic terracotta head from it in 2013.

About

Rupert Wace Ancient Art is a London dealership whose Cypriot stock included a Cypro-Archaic terracotta head that Princeton University Art Museum acquired in 2013. According to the firm, Rupert Wace opened his first gallery in 1988 and has worked in antiquities for over forty years; the limited company was incorporated on 5 February 19881,4. The firm handles Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek, Roman and early European antiquities, states membership of the Antiquities Dealers' Association (council), IADAA, BADA and CINOA, and names the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Louvre in Paris and Abu Dhabi, the Metropolitan Museum, the Boston and Houston museums of fine arts, Basel and Munich among its clients1.

BADA lists its fairs as the Winter Antiques Show and TEFAF in New York, TEFAF Maastricht and Frieze Masters5. Dated instances are the Winter Antiques Show in 2013 and TEFAF Maastricht in 2017, and numbered catalogues include no. 13 (2013) and no. 17 (2017)7,8,9.

The Princeton head, of a woman or priestess in terracotta, dates to about 600 BCE. Princeton's record traces it to Louis de Clercq in Paris by 1906 and to Nicolas Koutoulakis in Geneva in the 1960s; Wace had bought it by 2010, and the museum acquired it in 2013, citing catalogue 13, no. 302. The firm's older website had a Cypriot section with a horse-and-rider figure, and its current site has listed Cypriot limestone heads of a kouros and a Red Polished female plank figure3.

The Cypriot collection

Cypriot material is a minor strand of a mainly Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek and Roman stock. Documented: a Cypro-Archaic terracotta head of a woman or priestess (ca. 600 BCE) sold to Princeton in 2013 from catalogue 13, no. 30; an old Cypriot section of the firm's website with a horse-and-rider figure (ref. C531); and three product pages (two Cypriot limestone kouros heads, one Red Polished plank figure) on the current Squarespace site, since removed. (2024)

Princeton University Art Museum,… 2026Internet Archive CDX listing… 2026

History

  1. 1988
    According to the firm, Rupert Wace established his first gallery.

    LondonRupert Wace Ancient Art:… 2026

  2. 5 February 1988
    Rupert Wace Ancient Art Limited incorporated at Companies House (no. 02218213). The company is shown as dissolved on 21 November 2021; its registered address then was an insolvency practitioner's office in Ilford. The firm's own site and the BADA and ADA pages continue to present Rupert Wace Ancient Art / Rupert Wace Ltd as trading.

    LondonCompanies House: Rupert Wace… 2026

  3. November 2007
    The Internet Archive's earliest crawls of the firm's older HTML site (Nov 2007 onward) include a 'Cypriot' section (title image and a terracotta horse-and-rider figure, ref. C531).

    LondonInternet Archive CDX listing… 2026

  4. 2010
    Rupert Wace bought a Cypro-Archaic terracotta head of a woman or priestess (ca. 600 BCE; by 1906 with Louis de Clercq, Paris) from Daphne Zimmermann-Koutoulakis and Emmanuel Koutoulakis, Geneva, who held it from the Nicholas Koutoulakis collection.

    LondonEmmanuel KoutoulakisLouis Constantin Henri François-Xavier de ClercqPrinceton University Art Museum,… 2026

  5. 2013
    Published catalogue 'Rupert Wace Ancient Art 13' (2013); the head later at Princeton is no. 30 (illus.). Later numbered catalogues appear in trade listings: no. 16 (with price list) and no. 17 (2017).

    LondonPrinceton University Art Museum,… 2026Trade listing: Rupert Wace… 2026

  6. 2013
    Princeton University Art Museum acquired the terracotta head (2013-4) from Rupert Wace.

    LondonPrinceton University Art Museum,… 2026

  7. 25 January 2013
    Exhibited at the Winter Antiques Show, New York (25 January to 3 February 2013); the pieces reported were Roman, Near Eastern and Egyptian.

    New YorkCoins Weekly: Rupert Wace… 2013

  8. 2017
    Exhibited at TEFAF Maastricht (Apollo 'Pick of the fair', an Egyptian piece). BADA's listing gives fairs as Winter Antiques Show New York, TEFAF Maastricht, TEFAF New York, Masterpiece London and Frieze Masters London; TEFAF Maastricht purchase by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden is recorded for March 2009.

    MaastrichtApollo: Pick of the… 2017BADA: Rupert Wace Ltd 2026

People

1 person

Objects

Sources

  1. 1. (2026). “Rupert Wace Ancient Art: About”. Online
  2. 2. (2026). “Princeton University Art Museum, Head of a woman or priestess, 2013-4 (cites Rupert Wace Ancient Art 13, 2013, no. 30)”. Online
  3. 3. (2026). “Internet Archive CDX listing for rupertwace.co.uk (old 'cypriot' section, C531; Squarespace product pages)”. Online
  4. 4. (2026). “Companies House: Rupert Wace Ancient Art Limited, 02218213”. Online
  5. 5. (2026). “BADA: Rupert Wace Ltd”. Online
  6. 6. (2026). “Wikipedia: Rupert Wace”. Online
  7. 7. (2017). “Apollo: Pick of the fair, Rupert Wace Ancient Art (TEFAF Maastricht 2017)”. Online
  8. 8. (2013). “Coins Weekly: Rupert Wace Ancient Art at the Winter Antiques Show (2013)”. Online
  9. 9. (2026). “Trade listing: Rupert Wace Ancient Art catalogue no. 16 with price list”. Online