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LOT 0090
Greek Terracotta Female Antefix
ARCHAIC, 6TH-5TH CENTURY B.C.
10 1/2 in. (411 grams, 26 cm).
Mould-made figure of a female upper body with tall curved and conical headdress, hair dressed in braids falling to her shoulders and flanking her breasts, arms spread and right hand curled to grip a handle or sword-hilt; beneath, a tapering mounting peg for attachment to a roof.
ProvenanceAcquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.
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.12207-222349.
Cf. more elaborately modelled example in the British Museum under accession no.1884,1011.2.; see also Bleecker Luce, S. ‘Archaic Antefixes from Cervetri in the University Museum, Philadelphia, PA’ in American Journal of Archaeology, Second Series, Journal of the Archaeological Institute of America, vol.XXIV,1920, no.1, pp.27-37, figs.1,3,5 for more simple antefixes in the same style; Smithers, S., ‘Images of Piety and Hope: Select Terracotta Votives from West-Central Italy’ in Newman Bohn, C., Studia Varia, from the J.Paul Getty Museum, Volume I, Malibu, 1993, pp.13-33, fig.2, for similar, without helmet.
FootnotesThe antefix belongs to the typical decorative scheme of alternating figures decorating the tiles at the ends of the eaves of the roof, constituting a serial decoration. It has the form of a female head, the details of which were defined through finely detailed plastic and polychrome painting, now lost. The head is crowned with a helmet, which can help identify her with the warrior goddess Athena.
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LOT 0090
Greek Terracotta Female Antefix
Estimate £1,800 - 2,400€2,090 - 2,780 (for guidance only)$2,430 - 3,240 (for guidance only)
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Greek Terracotta Goddess Figure
4th-3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Tanagra type, hollow-formed with a void to the reverse, standing female in tiered robe wearing a diadem and with her hair drawn back, applied torch in her right hand. 18 grams, 12 cm
European art market. Acquired in Münich in 2012. European private collection. -
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Bronze Batillum Depicting a Reclining Banqueteer with Skyphos and Rhyton
Parthian, 3rd-1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,680
Comprising a square base with a raised border and supported by four stub feet, each originally surmounted by poppy-head finials (some absent); a hollow-formed figure of a banqueteer reclining elegantly with his weight resting on his left elbow, his right leg drawn up beneath the folds of a finely pleated robe; in his right hand, a ram’s head rhyton and his left hand cradling a skyphos; his bearded head with a laurel wreath. 1.58 kg, 25 cm
Private New York collection, formed in the 1960s. Acquired on the North American art market, 1990s. with Cahn Auktionen AG, Basel, Switzerland, 13 November 2015, no.84 (CHF 18,000). 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 a search certificate number no.12379-226873.
The composition reflects the iconography of elite banquet culture in the ancient world, capturing both refinement and ritual in a single expressive figure. The Greek 'συμπόσιον' 'symposium' was the later part of a formal banquet which took place after the food had been consumed, when the serving of strong drink was accompanied by music, dancing, poetic composition or recital or earnest conversation. The custom has similarities with the Roman convivium and with the customs of many Mediterranean and Western Asiatic people. The Parthian Empire was culturally diverse and included many Hellenic groups; the Arsacid court adopted a range of aspects of contemporary Greek culture, among them Greek military structures and the Greek language as a lingua franca alongside the Parthian (Iranian) language and Aramaic. -
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'The Smithsonian' Greek Terracotta Horse
Italy, 3rd-1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £6,240
Modelled in the round, horse in advancing pose with one foreleg raised, flange base; old collector's number '170439' to base; old label '170[...]' and '102' to lower body; neck repaired. 1.15 kg, 19.4 cm
Private collection of Baron d’Ussés. Acquired by F.B. Spiridon, New York, believed before 1894. Acquired by Eleanor Magruder (1852-1906), and thence by descent to her heirs in 1906. Accompanied by photographs of the object on display at the Smithsonian Institution and of the corresponding accession catalogue entry. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13108-248975.
