Greek Terracotta Oil Lamp

Matched pair of hooked wire earrings, each with an inset cabochon, articulated dangles and other ornaments. 5.15 grams total, 46 mm each



Private American collection, 1970s-1980s. with Robert Haber, New York, USA, circa 1990s. Private collection, Europe. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, 8 September 2004. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13187-249264.

This pair belongs to the Hellenistic group of earrings with pendants, a broad group including pendants shaped as amphorae, birds, erotes and other exotic elements. Most of them come from sites around the Aegean or the Eastern Mediterranean and were probably produced in workshops in these regions. They usually date from the 2nd to the 1st centuries B.C.

Fragment from a large vessel showing Hercules wearing the Nemean lion skin in close combat with a bearded warrior, Greek inscription above. 8.37 grams, 64 mm



From an old Belgian collection, circa 2000.

Annular in form with pierced tab. 1.65 grams, 20 mm



Private collection, acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s; thence by descent.

During the Greek Neolithic, certain types of ornaments share common morphological characteristics; one such example is the so-called ‘ring-idols’. The prototype of these ring-shaped pendants seems to have been made out of gold, which began to be used during these late phases of the Neolithic in Greece and the Balkans, in general.