Greek Silver Bow Brooch Group

Featuring a slender hoop and a lentoid bezel with a standing figure dressed in a long garment. 1.86 grams, 20.33 mm overall, 17.07 mm internal diameter (approximate size British J, USA 4 3/4, Europe 8.69, Japan 8)



From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.

Dynamic scene of two nude wrestlers, the giant Antaeus and Hercules, Hercules lifting Antaeus off the ground with his arms, while Antaeus is trying to pry his arms open to regain contact with Mother Earth, which would restore his strength; set on a custom-made display stand. 1.01 kg total, 20.3 cm high including stand



Mallams Oxford. From a UK private collection since the 1970s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13333-258242.

Here, the giant Antaeus is depicted with the more common dimensions of the hero, Hercules. Antaeus was a giant, the son of Neptune and Gaia. Antaeus would challenge all passers-by to wrestling matches and remained invincible as long as he remained in contact with his mother, the Earth. As in Greek wrestling, like its modern equivalent, he typically attempted to force opponents to the ground, and he always won, killing them. He built a temple to his father using the skulls of his defeated opponents. Antaeus fought Hercules as he was on his way to the Garden of Hesperides as his Eleventh Labour. Hercules realised that he could not beat Antaeus by throwing or pinning him. Instead, he held him aloft and then crushed him to death in a bear hug. The scene is famously depicted on a Greek krater dating to the sixth century BC and now in the Louvre, and was a popular subject for Renaissance artists. The episode in which Hercules defeats Antaeus is mentioned in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Scaraboid type with incuse design to the underside of a nude hero facing, holding one lion by the neck and another by the hind leg; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 4.25 grams, 19 mm



From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.

The gem could be considered a representation of Heracles, even if the iconography is unusual, and is influenced by the Mesopotamian environment, from where it borrows the frontal image of the hero (Gilgamesh or Enkidu) fighting with two beasts. The hero is beardless and holding an inverted lion. He is acting like a master of the animals, showing eastern traits reminiscent of Graeco-Phoenician art. In the Phoenician tradition, a similar image of the god Bes, holding two lions, as posis theron (‘Master of the Animals’), is common. The type is more frequent in the Eastern Mediterranean than in the West and is found on scarabs in carnelian and chalcedony.