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LOT 0111
Greek Silver-Gilt Vase with Winged Putti Picking Grapes
HELLENISTIC, 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.
5 3/4 in. (150 grams, 14.5 cm).
Piriform in profile with flared foot and carinated ring at the shoulder, everted rim at the mouth; band of punched decoration on the neck with vinescrolls; similar band to the shoulder with bunches of grapes, tendrils and putti.
ProvenanceAcquired on the US art market, early 1990s.
Private collection, North America.
Private collection, London, UK.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13244-252968.
Cf. for similar, but not identical, vases in the treasure of Rogozen, in Fol, A., The Rogozen treasure, Sofia, 1989, pp.86, 170, no.109, and p.183, nos.149-150.
FootnotesThere is ample evidence that the princes of the Hellenistic world had a large appetite for expensive tableware. In a procession preceding games organised by the eccentric Antiochos IV Epiphanes (175-163 B.C.) in the Antiochene suburb of Daphne, 1000 silver vessels and 800 gold ones were carried. Kallixeinos of Rhodes reported the combined weight of gold and silver vessels displayed inside the pavilion of Ptolemy II Philadelphos as 10,000 talents, a weight of well over 200 tons.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0111
Greek Silver-Gilt Vase with Winged Putti Picking Grapes
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
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Etruscan Bronze Statue of a Satyr
Circa 6th century B.C.Estimate: £4,000 - 6,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,000
Modelled in the round in energetic pose with left hand resting on the hip and right arm raised, head tilted slightly upwards, tail curled gracefully over the rump; on a square base with papyrus stalk detailing; on a later gilt-metal stand mounted on a polished stone cube. 679 grams total, 20.4 cm including stand
Iris Cornelia Love (1933–2020), New York, collection primarily formed in the 1950s-1970s. -
Greek Iridescent Pale Aqua Glass Bowl
Hellenistic, mid 2nd-early 1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,080
Conical in profile with a rounded apex, aqua glass with three incised bands below the rim on the inner face. 380 grams, 16 cm wide
Dr Jutaro Kawabe, Nagoya, Japan, his collection formed in the 1960s-1970s. with Hoshigaoka Gallery until the late 1990s. Private collection, London, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12949-245243.
On ancient glass, iridescence is the soft play of colour that develops as the surface ages and becomes silica-rich. Minute layers form over time and break light into shifting blues, greens and golds. It is not a modern finish but something time has drawn out of the material itself, so the pattern and palette are unique to each piece. Collectors prize good, stable iridescence because it lifts the form: ribs read more crisply, profiles glow, and simple vessels take on depth and movement. Museums now tend to preserve these surfaces rather than polish them away, recognising both their beauty and what they tell us about an object’s long life (though it is not, by itself, a dating test). For display, iridescent glass performs brilliantly under gentle, directional light, where the colours “turn” as the vessel is moved. Well-preserved, even iridescence of this quality is not common and adds materially to the presence—and desirability—of the piece. -
Greek Bronze Ring with Standing Goddess
Circa 4th-2nd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
Comprising a slender round-section hoop and a lentoid bezel with a standing goddess before a pillar. 1.92 grams, 16.72 mm overall, 13.16x15.37 mm internal diameter (approximate size British G, USA 3 1/4, Europe 4.92, Japan 4)
From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.