Frieze Masters: From dinosaur skulls to early Rubens, London’s most eclectic art fair returns

A 68-million-year-old triceratops skull might not be the first thing you expect to find at an art fair, but at Frieze Masters, the extraordinary is the norm.

The fossil, discovered in Montana and offered by David Aaron gallery, was snapped up on opening day for £650,000. “It’s beautifully preserved,” says gallery director Salomon Aaron. “"We also sell such specimens to privates. People often come from the tech space or the sciences space. People who want to live with these dinosaur fossils or to collect them."

If a dinosaur doesn’t fit in your living room, how about an early masterpiece by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens? Priced at around $10 million (€8.6m), the portrait on show at Salomon Lilian’s stand captures the artist’s fascination with masculine form.

"One never sees an early work by the artist on markets like this," says gallery owner Salomon Lilian. "And because an early work means 100% painted by Rubens alone. Because when he was still young, he didn't have a studio."

The event remains a rare mix of antiquity and contemporary pieces - a place where marble busts, Egyptian sarcophaguses and modern textiles coexist.

Frieze Masters runs until 19 October in London’s Regent’s Park. Watch the video in the webplayer above for a look inside the fair.