Greek Attic Red-Figure Squat Lekythos Attributed to the Meidias Painter

Modelled with large prominent ears and neatly cut short hair, rounded facial detailing with large eyes and flattened nose, the upper body and hands wrapped inside a pleated cloak, hollow to the reverse; the bust emerging from a lotus flower resting atop a lion's claw foot with a mounting spike on the reverse; mounted on a display stand. 130 grams total, 11.9 cm including stand



Collection of Ambassador G.P., nr.126, before 1965. with Galerie Rhéa, Zurich, Switzerland. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Carved in the form of an elaborate palmette with stems in the form of spiral tendrils rising from acanthus leaves, a small rosette at the top between the converging fronds; holes on the reverse for attachment to shaft; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 57 kg total, 47 cm (53.5 cm including stand)



Acquired on the New York, USA, art market, 1994. with Christie's, London, The Stanford Place Collection of Antiquities, 26 April 2006, no.30. Private collection, UK. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Christie's 'Stanford Place Collection' catalogue pages. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12614-235145. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

This iconography was adapted from the Egyptian and Asiatic honeysuckle, also known as lotus palmette. First depicted on Attic white-ground lekythoi; in the 5th century B.C., then as architectural decoration, carved marble examples of this type of funerary monument were erected in the 5th-4th century B.C. It was not unusual for the anthemion to be of higher quality than the figures sculpted and painted beneath it. One splendid example is the stele of Paramythion (cf. Brinkmann-Wünsche, 2004, pp.148ff.). These memorials, originally painted, were venerated by families, anointed with oil, decorated with ribbons, and graced with offerings of food.

With piriform body resting on a delineated foot, tubular neck with everted, inward sloping rim; two large handles projecting from the shoulder and descend towards the rim in a steep angle, rosette medallions embellishing the angles and base; chequerboard motif on the neck with bands of vegetal motifs on the shoulder, the handles with ivy leaves and linear decoration. 1.78 kg, 32.7 cm



From the estate of the prominent Swiss painter Max Gubler (1898-1973), acquired in 1936. with Galerie Rhéa, Zurich, Switzerland. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12646-236461. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.