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Details
LOT 0066
Greek Terracotta Gorgon Applique
5TH CENTURY B.C.
2 1/8 in. (28 grams, 54 mm).
Plano-convex in section with band of tight spirals forming the hair, lentoid eyes, snub nose and gaping mouth revealing fangs and protruding tongue.
Provenance
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.
Literature
Cf. similar image used as an antefix in the Getty Museum, accession no.83.AD.211.1.
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Fine condition, excellent uniform patina.
with Sotheby's, New York, 21 November 1985, no.60. Ex private New York 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.11794-206497.
The statuette assumes the position of the 'attacking Hercules', which characterises numerous Etruscan statues of the hero of the classical era, however, with a less aggressive stance. The type was probably an Etruscan creation of the 5th century B.C., based on Greek models, which lasted until the end of the Hellenistic period, when Etruria was by then incorporated into the Roman world. This statuette, despite certain anatomical stylisation and an impersonal characterisation of the face, is the result of a good artistic and technical quality. The comparison of the artwork with the group identified as ‘Trieste’ from Colonna shows that this specimen is more recent and should be dated to the end of the Hellenistic Age. These small statuettes were probably offered ex-voto by the Romano-Etruscan aristocracy of the period.
