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LOT 0121
Greek Agate Gemstone with Maenad
LATE HELLENISTIC, 1ST CENTURY B.C.
1/2 in. (1.25 grams, 12 mm).
Ellipsoid type with intaglio profile female head facing left, with parted lips and face looking slightly upwards, wearing an ivy wreath in a wavy hair bundled at the temple; supplied with a museum-quality impression.
ProvenanceFrench art market, 2016.
LiteratureCf. Walters, H.B., Catalogue of Engraved Gems & Cameos, Greek, Etruscan & Roman in the British Museum, London, 1926, item 1067.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0121
Greek Agate Gemstone with Maenad
Estimate £400 - 600€460 - 700 (for guidance only)$540 - 810 (for guidance only)
Opening Bid
£180 (EUR 209; USD 243) ‡+BP*
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Very Large Parthian Glass Rhyton
1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.Estimate: £10,000 - 14,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5,000
With a trumpet-shaped broad end, tapering sidewalls and a thick pierced finial, accompanied by a custom-made wooden case. 718 grams, 25.5 cm
Japanese private collection, with a Japanese custom wooden box, prior to 1979. Aaron Gallery, Iran prior to 1970. Aaron Gallery, 19 September 1980. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12798-241349.
Rhyta, typically terminating in a zoomorphic or divine protome, were used as ceremonial drinking vessels, reflecting a close association with libation and purification rites. -
Greek Red-Figure Fragment Collection
5th century B.C.Estimate: £50 - 70 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
Comprising irregular mainly curved sidewall fragments with reserved and applied geometric ornament on a black field; each with old collector's label. 23 grams total, 25-41 mm
Iris Cornelia Love (1933-2020) collection, New York, formed primarily in the 1950s-1970s; on long-term loan to Dietrich von Bothmer, New York, late 1960s/early 1970s to late 1990s. -
Very Large Greek Red-Figure Column Krater with Bull and Rider
Attic, 5th century B.C.Estimate: £25,000 - 35,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £12,500
With a flared and stepped foot, poppy-head border around the lower body and neck, strap handles with palmettes to the upper faces opening to two columnar legs; red-figure scenes to the neck and body: Side A, Europa's abduction: standing bearded figure in profile wearing a loose himation holding the lid of a krater in one hand facing a female figure in draped himation revealing one breast, turning to face the male while mounted on an advancing bull and carrying a frond; Side B, Dionysiac scene: satyr standing nude, playing a lyre beside a standing robed male wearing a laurel wreath in his hair, dancing female in active pose with musical instruments in each hand, turning to face the robed figure; some restoration. 5.85 kg, 44.5 cm high
Red-figure technique, with certain details highlighted in a wine-colored hue. The surface has taken on a light yellow hue throughout. Some cracks, and the varnish is chipped in some place.
German private collection (870632). Anonymous sale, Hampel Fine Arts auction, Munich, 21 September 2012, no.625. Private collection, acquired on the German art market. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Jacques Chamay. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13218-249222.
The two figurative scenes are of equal importance. The Dionysian scene depicts the god, in the centre, between a satyr playing a lyre and a dancing maenad. The other scene depicts a well-known subject: the abduction of Europa. This is the daughter of Agenor, king of Tyre in Phoenicia. Of great beauty, she is desired by Zeus. He approaches her in the form of a white bull while she is playing on the beach. Initially frightened, the young woman begins to caress the animal, then becomes more daring and climbs onto its back. Zeus immediately abducts her and rushes out to sea, toward Crete. There, he will be united with Europa, who will bear him three children, including Minos.
