Greek Terracotta Figure Group

Nearly cylindrical body with a slightly sloping shoulder with five palmettes and eight dots in between; main image showing a Dionysian procession with two advancing nude satyrs facing a young male playing a double pipe, each of the satyrs leaning on a walking stick and having a long garment draped over their shoulders and wearing a fillet and a large wreath on their heads. 649 grams, 29.2 cm



Münzen und Medaillen A.G., H. Cahn, Basel, 24 April 1989. Private collection, Bern, Switzerland. Accompanied by an original thermoluminescence analysis report no.N125q44 by Oxford Authentication. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12641-236375.

The Athena Painter is known as the painter who designed several Greek black-figure pottery works using the 5th-century BC white-ground technique. He specialised in lekythoi and refers to Athena as his main subject in his works. Together with the Theseus Painter, they continued the tradition of painting large lekythoi. His black figures are of high quality, and in addition to lekythoi, he decorated other potteries such as oenochoai. Some archaeologists say that he may have been the same person as the Bowdoin Painter of red-figure pottery, although they may have just worked in the same workshop.

Each moulded with plain reverse, some facial and body detailing to obverse with flared foot. 200 grams total, 10.4-11.1 cm



Acquired in the 1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.

Conical in profile, aqua glass with three incised bands below the rim on the inner face. 374 grams, 15.7 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.