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LOT 0094
Greek Silver Wine Strainer
4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.
8 3/4 in. (160 grams, 22.2 cm wide (526 grams total including stand)).
Composed of a shallow bowl and broad flange rim, two integral scalloped handles with scrolled flourishes, tapering to a loop handle with swan head terminals each with incised eye and beak detailing; perforated whirl within roundel to interior base; accompanied by a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceEx private South German collection, 1980s.
with Christie's, New York, 8 June 2012, lot 86.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
Accompanied by copies of the relevant Christie's pages.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11578-198980.
Cf. Reeder, Ellen D., Hellenistic Art in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1988, p.125, no.130, for similar examples and a general discussion of type; A Passion for Antiquities, Ancient Art from the collection of Barbera and Lawrence Fleischman, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1994, pp.77-78, no.31D; and The Search for Alexander, exhibition catalogue, 1980, p.167, no.130; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1972.118.88, for a group containing a silver strainer with similar looped handle and bird-head terminal; a similar specimen in the Walters Art Museum, accession number 57.910; a similar example in shape and quality can be seen in the ‘Tomb of the Prince’, in Pella, cf. Touratsoglou, I., Macedonia, History, Monuments, Museums, Athens, 1996, p.240, fig.312.
FootnotesElaborate silver strainers, such as this present example, were used at symposia and festive occasions for the purpose of preventing the dregs of wine from entering the wine cup. This and other related silver utensils became popular in the later 4th and 3rd century B.C. These highly decorated wine strainers were fitted with dual handles forming loops in the shape of twisting animals, here a swan. Usually they took the form of a shallow dish complete with four rings of perforations in the centre in order to drain the wine. Strainers of this type were used to separate out sediments which could be found in the thick Greek wine. Examples similar to this one have been found in royal tombs in northern Greece, as well as the tomb of a monarch in Sudan.
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Hellenistic Decorated Silver-Gilt Bowl
Late 2nd-early 1st century B.C.Estimate: £15,000 - 20,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £7,500
The bell-shaped bowl with everted flaring rim, raised from a single sheet with parcel-gilding; the inner rim with raised wreath ornament, a band of geometric motifs below; central band composed of an elaborate garland of leaves and flowers flanked by bands of volutes; the base with an eight-petalled flower with radiating large leaves; small repair. 246 grams, 20.2 wide (1.58 kg total, 28.5 x 28 cm including case)
From the collection of George Ortiz (1927-2013). with Mansour Gallery, early 2000s. Subsequently in a French 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.11936-210132.
Similar segment-shaped silver bowls with partial gilding, decorated on the inside with friezes in the form of garlands or wickerwork on the bottom, have been found in many nomad mounds of the Caucasus and in the territories once dominated by the Arsacid Empire. They are attributed to Parthian workshops by Pfrommer and M. Treister. -
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650-600 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
With globular body, three stub legs, flared mouth with spur to the lip; loop handle to the rear; bands of incised geometric ornament. 119 grams, 10.6 cm
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Minoan Bronze Votary Statue
Circa 3000–1100 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,820
The figure standing on a small discoid base, wearing a short kilt, with broad chest and slender waist; the left arm bent across the chest and the right arm raised to the forehead in an act of worship; mounted on a custom-made stand. 447 grams total, 22.4 cm high including stand
British private collection, acquired by 2000. Accompanied by a copy of an old photograph showing this item on display in a display cabinet within the previous collectors home. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11950-210856.
