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LOT 0083
Greek Gold Figure of Nike from a Monumental Funerary Wreath
SOUTH ITALIAN, 4TH CENTURY B.C.
3 5/8 in. (56 grams total, 92 mm including stand).
Formed as a composite figurine comprising: hollow-formed nude female figure with left arm extended to her side and fingers curled inwards, right hand at her side, hair drawn up in a chignon surmounted by an applied beaded-wire diadem; two sub-triangular wings each attached to the shoulder blades, with repoussé feather detailing to the obverse; broad D-shaped panel attached to the waist and rear of the legs, with radiating arch detailing; supplied with a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceFocquaert collection, Belgium, 1970s.
European private 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.12220-222337.
See a similar gold wreath from Armento (South Italy) surmounted by a similar winged Nike, today at the Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, München, NI 2335 WAF, in Knauß, F.S., ‘Anton Prokesh von Osten und Ludwig I. von Bayern,’ in Knauss, F. (ed.), Anton Prokesch von Osten. Sammler, Gelehrter und Vermittler zwischen den Kulturen, Graz, 2019, pp.26-38, fig.6.
FootnotesSimilar statuettes were surmounting huge funerary wreaths, like the one from Armento (325-300 B.C. made in Southern Italy). The wreaths, composed of golden flowers, leaves, fruits, bees and Erotes, have a winged goddess, with all probability Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, as the central motif. It is possible that the wreath was given to the deceased as a prize after a successful competition, but the dimensions of the Nike show that it was an extremely rare artefact. These costly objects were financed by rich and powerful Mecenates, like Kreithonios, named in the inscription on the base of Nike from Armento.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0083
Greek Gold Figure of Nike from a Monumental Funerary Wreath
Sold for (Inc. bp): £14,040
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From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
