PAD Dealer’s Choice: David Ghezelbash

The art market is full of personalities, but dealers and gallerists often seem little more than names when the market gets covered in print. In a new series, Apollo asks art dealers to introduce themselves and their businesses.

Tell us a bit about the history of your business…

I opened the gallery in rue Jacob, Paris, in 2008 after working for a few years with Jean-Philippe de Serres (galerie Serres, rue Bonaparte).

What are your specialist fields?

I deal mainly in antiquities from the Mediterranean: Roman, Greek, Etruscan and Egyptian. But my predilection is for ancient Near Eastern.

What’s the most exciting work you’re currently offering?

Currently I’m very fond of a Ptolemaic Egyptian relief of a king, making an offering, with traces of its original pigments.

What’s been your greatest triumph as a dealer?

The discovery of rare piece that now is in an international museum.

And your greatest professional regret?

I can’t think of any…

How has the market in your field changed since you started dealing?

The importance of provenance has changed the market a lot.

Do you collect yourself? And in the same field as you deal?

Yes various things, but mostly outside my field.

Which work have you been sorriest to part with?

None; because each piece that goes has an afterlife and pushes you to find new ones…

If you weren’t an art dealer, what would you be?

A musician.

David Ghezelbash Archéologie is based in Paris.
PAD London is on at Berkeley Square, London, until 20 October 2013.