Tefaf Maastricht

Treasures Abound! Hamish Bowles Visits Maastricht for The Fine Arts Fair | Vogue

"Spoken of as the holy grail by dealers, collectors, and aesthetes, this storied Dutch art and antiques fair—first established in Maastricht in 1988—overwhelmed me (in the best way) on a frenzied preview day: after passing the unglamorous convention‑center shell, I stepped into waterfalls of modernistic flower arrangements and an astonishing concentration of quality. With 275 participating dealers, the fair spans sections for twentieth‑century design and Old Masters and twentieth‑century art and antiquities and porcelain and fine jewelry and niche areas like bound books, and museum directors, their specialists and trustees vie with deep‑pocketed private collectors. The famously unforgiving vetting—an army of 189 experts across 29 categories reviewing booths before opening and locking away anything that fails their exacting standards of quality, authenticity, and condition—makes clear why this event inspires such reverence." - Hamish Bowles