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LOT 0497
Greek Iron Spectacle Brooch with Pin
IRON AGE, CIRCA 4TH CENTURY B.C.
4 1/4 in. (48.3 grams, 10.8 cm).
Formed as a single rod in two large tightly-wound coils with integral pin and catch to reverse.
ProvenanceFrom a UK collection formed in the 1980s.
Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.
Cf. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 37.11.18, for similar.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0497
Greek Iron Spectacle Brooch with Pin
Estimate £100 - 140€120 - 160 (for guidance only)$140 - 190 (for guidance only)
Opening Bid
£50 (EUR 58; USD 68) +BP*
-
Greek Black Ware Footed Cup with Concentric Circles
South Italian, circa 4th century B.C.Estimate: £80 - 100 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
With broad bowl and rounded rim, flared foot; old collector's label to the underside 'Z17.91'. 147 grams, 10.4 cm 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.
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. -
Greek Bronze Ring Bezel with Image of a Ptolemaic Queen
Hellenistic, 3rd-2nd century B.C.Estimate: £100 - 140 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
Elliptical bezel with high-relief profile bust. 7.26 grams, 22 mm
Acquired on UK art market. Property of a Middlesex gentleman. -
Greek Terracotta Rhyton of a Goddess
3rd-2nd century B.C.Estimate: £5,000 - 7,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,500
With flanged and stepped rim, tapering curved body, figural finial of the goddess with diadem; bands of red and cream geometric detail to the rim and upper body, red wave patterns to the inner face; the goddess modelled with carefully dressed hair and floral diadem, ringlets cascading to her collar bone, alert facial expression with almond-shaped eyes and prominent nose, with C-shaped billetted collar and chiton, cupping her left breast in her right hand; mounted on a custom-made stand. 1.25 kg, 24 cm
Private collection, London, UK; formed 1970s-1980s. 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.13312-258233.
It is challenging to identify the divinity represented on our vessel: it can be associated with Ariadne, wife of the god Dionysus, but also with a Parthian goddess such as Anahita. She was a Zoroastrian goddess associated with water, fertility, and wisdom, widely venerated across the Parthian Empire and often invoked alongside Ahura Mazda in royal and religious inscriptions. Rhyta in her likeness, typically terminating in a zoomorphic or divine protome, were used as ceremonial drinking vessels, reflecting Anahita's close association with libation and purification rites.
