Ancient Art, Antiquities, Books, Natural History, Stamps & Coins

Formed as a naked pregnant woman in a squatting position, with sagging breasts and a strongly bulging belly; pubis clearly visible between the legs, which are spread wide apart; eyes and mouth perforated to serve as a spout; filling hole at the back of the head; left foot partly absent. 161 grams, 10 cm



Hans Jurgen Döpp (1940), Frankfurt. From The Erotica Collection of Christian von Faber-Castell, Küsnacht ZH, Switzerland; acquired from Bernd Gackstätter, Antikenkabinett Frankfurt.

Bulbous in profile, with a short, broad neck, a rolled rim, and an angled handle; obverse with a moulded mask of Bes, with lentoid eyes and a hatched face. 140 grams, 68 mm



From the private collection of Peter Clayton, FCILIP, Dip, Arch, FSA, FRNS, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK; formed since the late 1950s.

Bes, a dwarf deity primarily of the household, was a powerful apotropaic entity who warded off evil spirits, guarded homes, and protected vulnerable family members, especially pregnant women and infants. Bes vessels were thought to imbue their contents with healing properties. Chemical analysis of some Graeco-Roman Bes vessels shows they held hallucinogenic, medicinal, and alcoholic blends explicitly tied to pregnancy rituals and ritual intoxication. During the Graeco-Roman Period, mould-made figure vessels and terracotta figurines became very common. By contrast, earlier eras produced almost none of these vessels; only one ceramic example is known from the New Kingdom, and none from the Third Intermediate or Late Periods. These mass-produced terracottas allowed non-elites to venerate cult images at home altars or leave them as accessible votive offerings at local sanctuaries.

Barrel-shaped in profile, with a stepped shoulder, wide neck, and broad, flared flange rim at the mouth, supported by two lateral strap handles; applied wreath decoration to the outer edge of the shoulder and vertical fronds to the lower body; restored. 1.48 kg, 17.8 cm high



Stift Neuberg (Neuberg Abbey) collection, Heidelberg, Germany, by 1893 and into the 20th century. Anonymous sale; Münzen und Medaillen, Auktion 41, 1972, no.151. Fiorella Cottier-Angeli collection, Geneva, 1981-2007. Herbert A. Cahn, acquired from the above. With Galerie Günter Puhze, Freiburg, 2007. Private collection, Midwest USA, acquired in 2007. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13477-262436.

Stift Neuberg was privately owned from 1798 until 1926. By 1893, a collection of antiquities had been assembled there, and its Greek and Roman holdings were published. It is believed that the amphora was acquired as part of this collection by Friedrich Alexander von Bernus (1838–1908), who inherited Stift Neuberg from his relative Johann Friedrich Schlosser (1780-1851), a nephew of Goethe. In 1926, the abbey was sold to the Benedictines and has remained a religious establishment ever since.