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LOT 0082
Greek Campanian Black-Glazed Kernos
LATE 4TH CENTURY B.C.
6 1/4 in. (623 grams, 16 cm high).
Comprising a round pedestal supporting four small offering pots, interspersed with four female face protomes; looped handle to the centre with parallel strokes in low-relief.
ProvenanceFrom the West German collection of H.W.
Acquired from the De Mynter, Belgium, in 2011.
with Gorny and Mosch, Munich, 3 June 2017, no.52.
Private Portuguese R.M. collection.
Accompanied by a previous catalogue information slip.
Cf. Miše, M., Gnathia and related Hellenistic Ware on the East Adriatic Coast, Oxford, 2015, fig.5, p.45, for similar.
FootnotesThe kernos can be recognised by a series of small cups on the lip, with examples dating back to the Bronze Age. It was used to store offerings made to the gods, specifically in cults pertaining to Demeter and Persephone. The receptacles probably contained foodstuffs, or perhaps flowers, and a lamp was sometimes placed in the centre. Kernoses, such as this, were often carried in processions at the Eleusinian Mysteries (secret initiation rites celebrating the goddesses Demeter and Persephone) and were an important object for Greek religious life. Kernoses are thus closely related to the agrarian cult and to the myth of Persephone and Demeter, the goddess of fertility and agriculture. The myth is recounted on an Homeric Hymn (c. 650 B.C.) according to which Persephone, Demeter’s daughter, was seized by Hades, the king of the underworld, who brought her to his kingdom to make her his wife. Distraught, Demeter caused a terrible drought, which continued until Persephone returned to her mother from the underworld. Having consumed pomegranate seeds whilst she was in the Underworld, she was only able to be with her for a few months of the year.
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LOT 0082
Greek Campanian Black-Glazed Kernos
Estimate £1,500 - 2,000€1,740 - 2,320 (for guidance only)$2,030 - 2,700 (for guidance only)
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Etruscan Bronze Statuette of Herakles
4th-3rd century B.C.Estimate: £20,000 - 30,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £10,000
Modelled in the round with a muscular nude body, his club resting on his shoulder and the hair dressed in rows of tight, close-set curls underneath the Nemean lionskin hood with cloak billowing over his left arm, the paws tied across his chest; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 290 grams total, 14.5 cm high (19.5 cm high including stand)
Fine condition, excellent uniform patina.
with Sotheby's, New York, 21 November 1985, no.60. Ex private New York collection. 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.11794-206497.
The statuette assumes the position of the 'attacking Hercules', which characterises numerous Etruscan statues of the hero of the classical era, however, with a less aggressive stance. The type was probably an Etruscan creation of the 5th century B.C., based on Greek models, which lasted until the end of the Hellenistic period, when Etruria was by then incorporated into the Roman world. This statuette, despite certain anatomical stylisation and an impersonal characterisation of the face, is the result of a good artistic and technical quality. The comparison of the artwork with the group identified as ‘Trieste’ from Colonna shows that this specimen is more recent and should be dated to the end of the Hellenistic Age. These small statuettes were probably offered ex-voto by the Romano-Etruscan aristocracy of the period. -
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Scythian Bronze Mirror with Panther Handle
5th-4th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,300
Discoid mirror with raised rim, ribbed rectangular handle with lateral lobes at base, transverse ribbed finial with stylised feline above modelled in the round; repaired and mounted on a custom-made stand. 1.85 kg total, 44 cm high including stand
Acquired 1971-1971. From the collection of the vendor's father. Ex London, UK, collector. Property of a Essex gentleman. -
Heavy Cypriot Pottery Brazier
Circa 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,300
Tubular terracotta form with crenellated rim, four inward-facing lugs each with a hole beneath, inner ledge, lateral vents and square aperture at the base; hatched texture to the rim; two lateral ledge handles. 12.1 kg, 39.5 cm wide
Ex Stella Pitt Rivers collection, Dorset Museum, UK. Acquired from Sotheby's, London, 13 May 1980, no.160. with Bonhams, London, 15 October 2008, no.139. with Bonhams, London, 29 April 2009, no.340. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Bonhams catalogue pages and original lot ticket.
