Greek Terracotta Head of Zeus

The Etrusco-Italic warrior Laran (Roman Mars) modelled in the round, representing a young muscular hero with long torso and rounded shoulders, wearing a high-crested Illyrian helmet with grooved perimeter, a hole above each ear for attaching an ornament; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 326 grams total, 16.2 cm high including stand



Ex Koutoulakis collection. Ex Gorny & Mosch, Munich, 17 June 1999, no.2051. with Sotheby's, New York, 12 June 2001, no.16. 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.11803-206793.

The statuette assumes the position of the 'warring Mars', which characterises the numerous Etruscan and Italic statues of the god produced as votive offerings to the temples or for private lararia. The god is depicted as taking part in a military march with his left leg advancing, his raised right would have held a spear and the left hand a shield.

The body formed as a female bust with elaborately styled hair; discoid foot, tall stem with pinched rim giving a broad pouring lip, strap handle to the rear; some pigment remaining. 446 grams, 22.2 cm high



Old French private collection. Swiss private collection, Basel-Landschaft. Private collection of M. Tritten, Binningen, Switzerland. Property of an East Sussex, UK, gentleman.

The Canosan ceramic workshops produced several series of head vases, starting with a red-figure imitation of the Attic plastic oenochoe attributed by Beazley to Group N.21. The next product combined two ceramic techniques: a) the neck, mouth, and handle were executed in red-figure technique with superimposed white rays on the neck; b) the head was drawn from two moulds, mounted on a base rim, and decorated with white slip and polychrome after firing. It belongs to the initial phase of the polychrome ceramic production of Canosa, for which only this type of mould is known. It also illustrates the close collaboration which existed between potters and coroplasts. The same archetype was used in the next phase, producing entirely polychrome head vases, like this one, in which traces of polychrome are still visible on the mouth and near the left ear.

Comprising two Hellenistic or Mesopotamian ribbed tubular beads and a larger bead with hatched sides, ribbed bulb to each end. 5.74 grams total, 17-52 mm



From a late Japanese specialist collector, 1970-2000s.