Greek Bronze Animal Statuette

Round in section with ribbing, rectangular finials with billeting to the borders and edges, and rows of impressed roundels. 481 grams, 28 cm



Private collection, Wagner family, Germany, 1955. Private collection, London. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12389-226870.

With flared foot, ovoid body, tapering neck and scooped trefoil mouth; tall gusseted strap handle to the rear; painted frieze of a phalanx of hoplites wearing crested helmets and bell-shaped armour with round aspis and eight-shaped (Boeotian) shields, knemidai greaves, long spears and scabbarded swords. 487 grams, 23.2 cm



Private Swiss collection, 1980s. Acquired on the European art market, 1992; thence by descent. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Jacques Chamay. 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.13220-249241.

The scene depicts a succession of warriors, marching to the left at a rapid pace. Closely packed, one behind the other, they are confined within the figurative field and extend well beyond the upper and lower edges. It is a scene taken from the Homeric poems. The style of the oinochoe is characterised by the abundant use of thick white and burgundy highlights, resulting in a striking polychrome effect. There is a tendency to extend the figures beyond the frame, due to the subject being too ambitious for the available surface. The chequerboard motif on the neck is a very rare decorative motif. The vase's importance is reinforced by its exceptional state of preservation.

Globular body decorated with circumferential banding, low foot, conical neck with pinched spout, strap handle to the rear. 395 grams, 18.5 cm



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