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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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Greek Red Figure Dish with Lady of Fashion
South Italian, circa 380-350 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £611
With pedestal foot, decorated with radiating strokes to the rim, band of leaf ornament surrounding the central profile of a lady of fashion facing left, her hair dressed in a ribboned sakkos with stephane; earrings and necklace in white and ochre. 187 grams, 16.5 cm wide
Acquired by the vendor's father in the 1950s or before; thence by descent 2003. -
Hellenistic Terracotta Head of the Goddess Demeter
Circa 2nd-1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
Hollow-formed and with rounded facial features; wavy hair with central partition, dressed with a tall diadem. 74 grams total, 78 mm high
UK private collection. Acquired Spink, York, UK, 2009. Property of a Nottinghamshire gentleman.
The head is probably from a cult statuette of Demeter. Statuettes of the goddess, seated or standing, or even busts, are well documented in the south of Italy, both among the Greek colonists and the local populations; many have been excavated from regional sanctuaries. -
Greek Tanagra Terracotta Head of Aphrodite
Circa 4th-2nd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £195
With hair divided in vertical arrangements, bound on the back by a fillet, delicate rendering of mouth, nose and eyes; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 38 grams total, 64 mm including stand
Ex P. A., Hertfordshire, UK, specialist collection of Greek art, 1980-1990s.
It seems that half-draped women in sculpture, whatever the pose, are quite rare before the late Hellenistic period; however, they appear as early as the 4th century B.C., on a small scale and in terracotta. North Macedonian terracotta figurines of Aphrodite or mortal girls replicate sculptural trends of the 2nd century B.C. In particular, the the classical sculptural tradition was revived during the latter half of the second century B.C., as evidenced by the figurines.
