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LOT 0059
Greek Silver-Gilt Mask of Silenus
3RD-2ND CENTURY B.C.
1 1/2 in. (3 7/8 in.) (9.4 grams, 37 mm (160 grams total, 98 mm high including stand)).
Naturalistically modelled in repoussé as the mature and frowning face of the god Silenus; accompanied by a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceEx old English collection.
London art market, 1980s.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11849-207741.
Cf. The Dallas Museum of Art, object number 1991.75.74.3, for a broadly comparable mask in gold.
FootnotesIn Greek mythology, Silenus was a god of the forest, associated with musical creativity, ecstatic dance and drunkenness. He was also a prophet and a bearer of dire wisdom. When the god Dionysus was born from the thigh of Zeus, Hermes took the infant to live with Silenus, where he was raised together with local nymphs in a cave on mount Nysa. Silenus was frequently present in the train of Dionysus, fought with the latter against the giants, and accompanied him on his adventures.
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Greek Terracotta Protome Mask
Circa 4th-3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £416
D-shaped ceramic panel with detailing moulding of a female bust with styled hair and soft facial features. 89 grams, 10.9 cm
Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016. -
Greek Tarentine Terracotta Head of a Youth
Mid 4th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £5,720
Possibly depicting Ganymede or Paris, wearing a soft Phrygian cap with everted brim, the hair swept back from the face; almond-shaped eyes with pronounced eyelids, straight nose and fleshy lips; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 1.2 kg total, 25.3 cm high including stand
Acquired early 20th century. From the collection of Count Henri d'Epinay (1940-2017), Longuenesse, France. Accompanied by a copy of a French cultural passport no.196149. 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.11824-207736.
The terracotta sculpture appears to have similarities with other Tarentine heads from the early Hellenistic Period. A marble head from Taranto, datable to the end of the 4th century B.C., presents similar elements. The visible character is clearly attributable to Graeco-Roman mythology. The only clue regarding the identity of the head is provided by the Phrygian cap, which narrows down the identification to few characters from Greek mythology: the Trojan prince Ganymede, abducted by Zeus for his beauty and named by him the cupbearer of the gods, or the Trojan prince Paris. There are many representations of Ganymede in a Phrygian cap (Hakanen, 2022, plates 6,12a). However, the third possibility is that the sculpture represents Attis, lover of the goddess Cybele. -
Cypriot Decorated Kylix
850-750 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,470
With domed foot and short stem supporting a broad bowl with carination below the rim and two lateral ledge handles; bands of painted concentric rings to the inner face in black and red, similar to the shoulder above panels of vertical stripes, arrows and other motifs; median Maltese cross to one face and bull's eye motif to the other. 685 grams, 21 cm wide
With Sotheby's London, antiquities sale, 17 May 1983, lot 132. Acquired from the above by Mr Leinonen, by descent to his son, Stan Leinonen. On loan to the Detroit Institute of Arts 6 December 1983-24 April, 2019. On view in Hallway East of Rivera Court circa 1989 and again in European Medieval and Renaissance in the 2000s.
