LOT 0060

Greek Terracotta Figure of Ganymede

3RD CENTURY B.C.

17 1/2 in. (1.74 kg, 44.5 cm).

Modelled in the round as a nude male figure with hanks of hair to the shoulders and necklace of beads; joined directly to his back, an eagle with its textured head arched over that of Ganymede; separate lower left leg and upper arm to the human figure, separate wings for the eagle; repaired.

Acquired 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.12211-222353.

See Hakanen, V., Ganymede in the art of Roman Campania, Ancient Roman viewers’ experience of erotic mythological art, Helsinki, 2022, figs.6, 7; Dettore, U., Il cammino della civiltà (The Path of civilization, in Italian), Novara, 1970, p.139, fig.2 (Archaic Greek).

In Greek mythology, Ganymede was a divine hero whose handsome looks attracted the attention of Zeus, who had him transported to Olympus by a huge eagle, where he was to serve as a cup-bearer to the gods.