Greek Carnelian Gemstone with Hippocamp

Broad and squat with low foot, inturned rim; chipped; old collector's record card with label to reverse '0892'. 29.4 grams, 53 mm wide



From the collection of the late Bernard C. Pickard, Hampshire, UK, the owner of Bernard C. Pickard Antiquities, which closed in 1987, he had been collecting since the mid 1950s. Accompanied by a typed information display card.

Bernard Pickard was a close friend of Richard Hattatt, the renowned author of several books on ancient brooches. Hattatt acknowledges in his first book, Ancient & Romano-British Brooches, published in 1982, that Mr Pickard first aroused his interest in brooches and inspired him in writing his books during his retirement. Mr Pickard also wrote the foreword to the section on Roman animal brooches, op. cit. p.158-160.

With laurel-leaf wreath beneath the flared rim, band of meander ornament as a baseline; Side A: striding satyr with torch and oinochoe followed by Eros holding a scroll behind; Side B: woman wearing a himation in active pose with sphere advancing towards a tendril. 814 grams, 20 cm



Acquired on the art market between the late 1990s and mid-2000s. Estate of the late Barry Paul Buxton (1944-2024), Oakham, Rutland. Acquired on the UK art market, 2025. 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 no.13070-249284.

Often, the iconography of an 'elevated' mythological subject was applied to members of Dionysos' retinue. Here we have three typical examples of them: a satyr, an Eros, and a woman, all three behaving according to Bacchic ecstasies.

Achaemenid or Parthian oval intaglio engraved with a style standing at the threshold between natural and stiff rigid linear style, depicting a goat-headed rhyton, the vessel terminating in the forepart of a wild goat with the front leg tucked under the body, the head rendered in profile with elegantly arched horns, pronounced muzzle, and carefully incised eye; the neck of the conical rhyton decorated with diagonal and cross-hatched incisions suggesting ribbing or chased metalwork; set in a modern gold ring with a small triangular area at the top left of the stone filled in with gold; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 8.51 grams, 24.02 mm overall, 21.18 mm internal diameter (approximate size British P, USA 7 1/2, Europe 16.23, Japan 15)



Acquired on the European art market. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13356-257945.

The subject, a rhyton terminating in an animal protome, belongs to a well-established tradition in Eastern Greek and Achaemenid art of the late Archaic and Classical periods, in which zoomorphic libation vessels were used in ritual and ceremonial contexts. Goat-headed rhyta, though less commonly preserved in glyptic media, are attested in silver and ceramic examples, notably from Asia Minor and Thrace. The stylised horned animal, here likely a wild goat or ibex, is associated with vitality and mountain symbolism, while the rhyton itself signals elite drinking culture and votive use. The use of carnelian is typical of high-quality glyptic production in the 6th to 4th century BC, valued for its durability and ability to take a fine polish. The style and iconography suggest an Eastern Mediterranean origin, most probably Ionian or Anatolian.