Greek Bronze Ring with Standing Goddess

Elongated piriform amphora shape, tubular neck and everted rim, decorated with polychrome festooning and trails, applied amber-green handles and knop foot. 152 grams, 18 cm high



Acquired early 1990s. Ex private American collection; thence by descent. Private collection since 1998. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12206-222129.

Depicting a ‘genius’ making a sacrifice, his head surrounded by a radiate crown or a wreath of laurel leaves arranged in rays; bare-chested with a cloak (tebenna) falling over his left shoulder, covering his back and resting on his left arm, enveloping his legs to below the knee; holding a patera in his right hand and an acerra in his left; accompanied by a display stand. 189 grams, 12.1 cm (367 grams total, 13.4 cm high including)



Anne Betgoner, Paris, by descent. French private collection, acquired in the early 20th century. Acquired from the above by the present owner. Private collection, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13235-251199.

The figure represents a genius dressed as a priest according to the Etruscan tradition. He is celebrating a sacrifice by offering to the gods with a patera of precious liquids and perfumes, kept in the acerra or pyxis. Acerra was the name given to the casket in which the incense intended for sacrifices was placed (arcula turalis). A servant carried it to the altar, and the granules from the casket were scattered on the flames (acerra libare).

Piriform body with splayed foot and narrow handles; the neck with slender lotus blossoms and palmettes, Side A) two opposing roosters with a lotus blossom in between, two standing swans flanking, below a youth on horseback holding the reins of a trotting horse, a man and a woman behind the horse; Side B) a grazing deer before an advancing panther looking back, two opposing sphinxes below with their heads turned back and front paws raised. 1.06 kg, 28 cm



Ex Münzen und Medaillen A.G., H. Cahn, Basel, 13 April 1985. 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.12643-236366.

An important work by the leading master of the 'Chalcidian' workshop, which, despite the name, is not to be located in Chalkis itself but rather in a Chalcidian colony in Magna Graecia (possibly Rhegion). Within the oeuvre of Phineus, who is known for his neck-amphorae, examples with two image zones are very rare—see, for example, the fragmentary amphora in the Faina Collection in Orvieto, with similar sphinxes.