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LOT 0092
Greek Black-Figure Kylix with Warriors and Sphinxes
ATTIC, CIRCA 530 B.C.
10 3/4 in. (414 grams, 27.3 cm wide).
Comprising: a broad shallow bowl with two loop handles curving up towards the rim, short stem and broad foot with chamfered outer edge; the bowl with reserved central disc to inner face, palmette motifs at the junctions of the handles, frieze depicting two standing nude males flanking a crouching sphinx in profile; restored and with old dealer's labels beneath base.
ProvenanceEx Prof. F.S., Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany, 1991.
with Gallery Drees Archeo S.P.R.L., Brussels.
Acquired from the above, 16 December 2017.
Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00041086.
Accompanied by a Gallery Drees Archeo certificate of authenticity.
Accompanied by a thermoluminescence report no.0102 0910 from Laboratory Ralf Kotalla, 6 September 2010.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12945-246388.
For similar examples of kylikes with black-attic figures see the British Museum, London, 1836,0224.65 (Gorgoneion and hippalectryon), 1864,1007.1701 (Hermes and Dionysos); compare with 1864,1007.1688 (Heracles and the Erymanthian boar), 1864,1007.296 (satyrs and dolphin); Athens, Museum of Cycladic Art ΝΓ0702 (‘eyes’ kylix); New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 44.11.1 (Menelaos and Helen), 56.171.36 (‘eyes’ kylix with ships and warriors), 96.18.64 (‘eyes’ kylix), 98.8.25 ((‘eyes’ kylix with satyrs), 96.18.65 (‘eyes’ kylix); Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum 96.AE.96 (fish market); Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum 33.399 (procession of men).
FootnotesThe present piece is a wide-bowled drinking cup known as a kylix - one of the most popular forms of pottery from the Achaean times (1600-1100 B.C.) through to the classical period (c.510-323 B.C.). It dates to an important moment in the development of Greek ceramics, just as the black-figure technique was being perfected by Athenian painters. Painted in black slip with details incised on top, kylikes usually had a frieze around the outside of the bowl as well as another scene on the tondo of the inside. The scene here represented can be linked with the well-known episode of Oedipus and the Sphinx.
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Piriform in profile with a carinated rim to the mouth, a low basal ring; horizontal bands and a hatched panel, concentric rings. 255 grams, 14.5 cm
Louis-Gabriel Bellon (1819-1899) collection, France. European private collection, 2009.
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Bulbous head with stylised owl-like facial features, large applied pupils and ear; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 96 grams total, 46 mm (65 mm high including stand)
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Archaic Greek Bronze Statuette of a Coiled and Rearing Snake
Archaic, 6th-5th century B.C.Estimate: £5,000 - 7,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,500
Modelled in the round with coiled body and rearing head, barbed fin to the forehead, punched annulet texturing on the body. 312 grams, 11 cm
Private collection, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, assembled in the 1980s. Acquired in 1995 by a European private collector. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12856-241689.
Snakes were important symbols in ancient Greek culture and were often linked with protection, healing, and renewal. Because they shed their skin, they were seen as a sign of rebirth and new life. They were also connected with gods and spirits of the earth and underworld, and in some cases were thought to protect the home or sacred places. In Greek art, a snake could therefore carry both religious and symbolic meaning.
