Greek Carnelian Gemstone with Hippocamp

Mould-made female protome with oval face, graceful nose and typical "archaic" smile; forehead framed by snail-shell curls descending to shoulder-height; with a low polos with a central perforation and large disc earrings. 606 grams, 19.5 cm



Ex Herbert A. Cahn, Kunst der Antike, Basel, 1997. with Paul and Vreny Vosseler-Studer, Riehen. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate no.S00057826. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12474-228714.

The presence of cults in Magna Graecia, although they fell within a well-established pantheon, in which the deity representing the Great Mother or Mother Earth, protector of fertility, natural and human fecundity, as well as health, was the most ancient, traces back to the figure of Demeter. In terracotta statuary, especially in Lucania, the goddess became the prevalent subject of votive or propitiatory offerings, reproduced in numerous variations of pose. The most common is the seated position, a distant tradition and widespread in the ancient world, the so-called 'goddess enthroned' with its multiple meanings, which allowed it to be adapted to various forms of worship. Demeter is a female deity connected to the earthly world and fertility, and therefore also present in Lucanian religiosity. The theme of the archaic protome—a head severed just below the neck—was transformed and expanded between the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., into that of the bust, finished just above the waist.

With a bulbous body, flared foot, lateral loop handles to the shoulder and a strap handle to the rear. 23.5 grams, 37 mm



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

The earliest Archaic Greek bronze hydriai enter the archaeological record in the last quarter of the seventh century. Although the appearance of bronze marks the first significant period of production in the Iron Age, these vessels represent a reawakening of an illustrious tradition dating back at least to the Helladic Bronze Age, if not considerably earlier.

In an active pose with both legs bent and left arm raised dramatically, head tilted to the left; exaggerated facial features, short trimmed hair, slim body with developed pectoral muscles and pronounced kyphosis; mounted on a columnar stand. 295 grams total, 15 cm high imcluding stand



Belgian private art collection of M.A., Brussels, Belgium, 1995. with Gorny and Mosch, 14 December 2011, no.82. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13330-258951.

Such figures are often described as ‘grotesques’, yet typically constituted overstated representations of people with dwarfism. Such individuals are invariably shown with exaggerated features such as pot bellies, hunched backs, bald heads, large phalli and angry facial expressions.