With narrow base, oblate profile, two lateral loop handles to the shoulder, broad neck and flared rim to the mouth; painted bands of circumferential geometric ornament, linear with hatched lozenge motifs, radiating bars to the mouth. 3.05 kg, 40.5 cm

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Of globular profile with strap handle and tall scooped spout; applied lugs to the shoulder, incised zigzag ornament; spout with pierced lug to the underside and band of impressed pellets. 935 grams, 32 cm

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Fragmentary head from a votive limestone figure of a male with long hair arranged inside a plain diadem above his forehead; the face with almond-shaped eyes sculpted in relief, arched eyebrows, and exhibiting the ‘archaic smile’; mounted on a display block. 381 grams total, 15 cm high including stand

Ex Professor Hans Dahn (1919-2019), Lausanne, Switzerland.

Modelled in the round with a muscular nude body, his club resting on his shoulder and the hair dressed in rows of tight, close-set curls underneath the Nemean lionskin hood with cloak billowing over his left arm, the paws tied across his chest; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 290 grams total, 14.5 cm high (19.5 cm high including stand)Fine condition, excellent uniform patina.

with Sotheby's, New York, 21 November 1985, no.60.
Ex private New York collection.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11794-206497.

Cf. Colonna, G., ‘Problemi dell’arte figurativa in età ellenistica nell’Italia Adriatica’, in Atti del I⁰ convegno di studi sulle Antichità Adriatiche, Chieti, 1971, pp.172-177; Adam, A.M., Bronzes étrusques et italiques, Paris, 1984, p.190, nos.291-292; cf. also The Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession number 96.9.297, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, accession number 66.41, for comparable figures; for the type see the British Museum no.1895,0408.1, in the British Museum Department of British & Medieval Antiquities, Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain, London, 1964, p.54, pl.13,7; for Herakles-Alcides in the Etruscan-Latin world see also Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), vol.V., Zurich, 1990, pp.196-253, s.v. Herakles/Hercle.

The statuette assumes the position of the 'attacking Hercules', which characterises numerous Etruscan statues of the hero of the classical era, however, with a less aggressive stance. The type was probably an Etruscan creation of the 5th century B.C., based on Greek models, which lasted until the end of the Hellenistic period, when Etruria was by then incorporated into the Roman world. This statuette, despite certain anatomical stylisation and an impersonal characterisation of the face, is the result of a good artistic and technical quality. The comparison of the artwork with the group identified as ‘Trieste’ from Colonna shows that this specimen is more recent and should be dated to the end of the Hellenistic Age. These small statuettes were probably offered ex-voto by the Romano-Etruscan aristocracy of the period.

Modelled standing barefoot on an irregular base, wearing an ankle-length chlamys over a short-sleeved tunic; the left arm supporting a bunch of grapes, the right hand with a patera; the hair and beard neatly dressed; mounted on a custom-made stand. 279 grams total, 14 cm including stand

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12317-214667.

Cf. Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 130, for type.

Lares were supernatural guardians revered in ancient Roman, the cult probably adapted from an Etruscan predecessor; the word lar derives from Etruscan larth - a leader or overlord. They were believed to guard the family's wealth and look after their health and wellbeing. An offering-plate is usually modelled in one of the figure's hands, onto which small libations could be made. They were usually worshipped in groups, but offerings to individuals are also known.

Modelled in the round with the right hand raised palm-outward and left hand clasped, the pallium gathered round the body and draped over the head; on a base. 699 grams, 14 cm

Acquired in Egypt by Lieutenant James Alexander Goodman in the 1920s.
Thence by descent to his grandson.

Lieutenant Goodman served in the 4th Battalion Welsh Regiment during World War I and saw action in Palestine during the capture of Bethlehem, (for which he won an MC). After the war, he setup a business selling Fordson trucks and tractors in Alexandria, Egypt. A keen antiquarian, he collected ancient objects during his time in Alexandria and when he visited the pyramids at Giza. After his first marriage failed, he returned to the UK in the early 1930s. On his death in 1959, he passed his small collection of Egyptian objects on to his second wife, Ruby Goodman. On Ruby’s death in 1994, they were left to their second daughter, Rosemary Johnson, (née Goodman), and are currently in the possession of her son.

Of squat piriform profile with applied ring to the foot and rim, applied strap handles o the shoulder; the equator with horizontal hoops and dragged marvered trail decoration. 50.1 grams, 71 mm

Private collection, England.

Cf. similar items in the British Museum under accession no. 1860,0201.57, and the Metropolitan Museum, New York, under accession no.1972.118.174.

Modelled in the round as a nude male figure with hanks of hair to the shoulders and necklace of beads; joined directly to his back, an eagle with its textured head arched over that of Ganymede; separate lower left leg and upper arm to the human figure, separate wings for the eagle; repaired. 1.74 kg, 44.5 cm

Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12211-222353.

See Hakanen, V., Ganymede in the art of Roman Campania, Ancient Roman viewers’ experience of erotic mythological art, Helsinki, 2022, figs.6, 7; Dettore, U., Il cammino della civiltà (The Path of civilization, in Italian), Novara, 1970, p.139, fig.2 (Archaic Greek).

In Greek mythology, Ganymede was a divine hero whose handsome looks attracted the attention of Zeus, who had him transported to Olympus by a huge eagle, where he was to serve as a cup-bearer to the gods.

Comprising a pedestal base, mastoid body, lateral strap handles and funicular neck, broad mouth with stepped rim; the neck and rim decorated with a band of egg-and-dart; both faces of the body decorated with a figural scene with a standing male on the left with close-fitting cap, long cloak or mantle reaching from shoulder to knee and clasped at his right shoulder with a disc brooch, holding in his left hand a key-shaped object; to his right, a chest-high structure with palmette at the top, waisted shaft and arcaded base; to the right, a female standing facing the male, wearing a crested helmet or headdress, peplos dress gathered at her waist and extending to the floor, holding in her right hand a diadem or wreath towards the male; palmettes below the handles, the base with red and black banding; the strap handles undecorated; likely Campanian workmanship. 969 grams, 25.2 cm

Acquired in Münich in 2012.
European private collection

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12190-222344.

Cf. for similar pottery (Attic prototype) in Görkay, K., ‘Corinthian, Attic Black figure and red figure pottery from Sinope’, in Anadolu/Anatolia, 2020, no.46, p.446, no.87; a similar Campanian pelike in British Museum inventory no.1867,0508.1157, in Pryce, F.N., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain 10, British Museum 7, London, 1932, pl.1,6; cf. also Mayo, E.M., Vases from Magna Graecia, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1983, for discussion and similar examples.

During the late 5th century B.C., Attic imports ceased as the Spartans blockaded trade routes during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.). In response, five areas in southern Italy, Campania, Paestum, Apulia, Lucania, and Sicily began to produce red-figure vases. The decoration offered a remarkable range of subjects associated not only with mythological images, but with representations the local life, costumes and customs. The simple, single figure compositions decorating each side of this vase were also characteristic of the style, which tended to avoid complex mythological scenes often found on much larger vessels like volute craters, favouring representation of the daily life of south Italic Hellenised peoples.

Plano-convex in section with band of tight spirals forming the hair, lentoid eyes, snub nose and gaping mouth revealing fangs and protruding tongue. 28 grams, 54 mm

Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.

Cf. similar image used as an antefix in the Getty Museum, accession no.83.AD.211.1.

With globular body and carinated flat shoulder, flared mouth and low foot with collar, lateral ledge handles; painted with radiating lines to the shoulder and profile 'ladies of fashion' busts with white detailing; old collector's label '19' to underside. 89 grams, 79 mm wide

Swiss private collection, 19th century.
Acquired in the mid 1980s-late 1990s.
From a European family collection, thence by descent.

Modelled as a grotesque male head with gaping crescent-shaped mouth, pointed nose, furrowed brow and thick mop of hair around the head; pierced at the upper face. 45 grams, 60 mm

Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.

See The Getty Museum, accession no. 96.AQ.193, for a similar mask in lamp form.