Greek Bronze Bird Figure

Cylindrical with stepped foot, five palmettes above the shoulder, dynamic frieze of two men visiting two hetairai, each of the figures dressed in long pleated garments, at the centre of the scene, a hetaira on the right reaching towards the bearded male and gently touching his chin with her open hand, a tall draped table behind her with an amphora underneath and a standing bird on the top. 459 grams, 26.4 cm



H.A.C. (Herbert A. Cahn), 19 October 1979. Private collection, Bern, Switzerland. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12644-236376. 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.

Cylinder with cord and bead handles; accompanied by a copy of an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Cylinder Seal of White Stone (surface blackened in places) 30.5 x 21 mm. The main scene consists of a standing figure with a big shock of hair, wearing a long skirt from the waist down, marked by horizontal lines, holding up snakes in each hand. On each side of this figure is a horned animal, bovine on the left, of uncertain species on the right, each in lively pose, the one on the right sideways. There is one filler in the main scene, the head of a horned animal. The secondary scene consists of five items: a star, a bull's head shown from the front, a tree, a rosette and the head of an unidentified horned animal. This is a seal in a local Cypriot style, from Cyprus, and dating to c.1500-1300 B.C. It is an important specimen of good quality, though knowledge of ancient Cypriot mythology does not yet allow us to identify the figure holding the snakes.'; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 26.3 grams, 30 mm



UK private collection, acquired 1980-1983. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert in February 1992. 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.