Hellenistic Large Gold Beads with Decoration

A fragment of amorphous form, decorated in relief with scrolling tendrils and anthemion, painted egg-and-dart ornament above, surmounted by moulded bands and a frieze of meander and chequerboard panels; remains of red and black painted pigment. 5.1 kg, 34.5 cm wide



Private collection, Switzerland, 1960s. From the Sir Claude Hankes-Drielsma collection, prior to 2006. with Christie's, London, The Stanford Place Collection of Antiquities, 26 April 2006, lot 36. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate number S00209802, dated 14 June 2021. Accompanied by a detailed collector's catalogue pages including description and photograph. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.203716.

Modelled with semi-naturalistic anatomical detailing, the base displaying a battle showing a mature and muscular naked man grappling with a winged gryphon; drilled for suspension. 2.29 grams, 16 mm



Ex F.A., Brussels, 1980. Private collection of a London antiquarian.

Combat between a man and gryphon is a well-attested subject matter on Greek scarabs. A faience factory was found in Naukratis by Flinders-Petrie, with innumerable faience and discarded moulds. The motifs on the bottom surface are repetitive and hurriedly worked. They depict lucky symbols or representative subjects (lions with sun disc, ibex, Horus falcons, lotus flowers); such motifs had already been adopted into Greek art but are generally considered typically Egyptian. Here the subject of a fight against a gryphon is Greek, although the style of the fighting character seems Phoenician, which points to Eastern Mediterranean workmanship, possibly on the Island of Rhodes.

Hemispherical in form with decoration in relief featuring fluting alternating with nymphs and symbols beneath an architectural border, cracked and chipped. 257 grams, 11.9 cm wide



Private Dutch collection, 1970-2010. Ex private Dutch collection, 2010-2018.

The term ‘Megarian’ bowl applied to this type of pottery is a modern convention for academic purposes. The name ‘Megarian’ was first given to this type of mould-made relief bowl in the late 19th century, because some of the first known examples were said to have come from the city of Megara. In reality, such terracotta items originated in Athens in the 3rd quarter of the 3rd century BC, and from that point were made in all major Greek cities for the duration of the Hellenistic period and into the Roman, especially in Alexandria. This relief-decorated pottery became more popular than painted pottery during the Hellenistic period. This class of hemispherical bowl was made in moulds and was characterised by decoration imitating metallic beakers. When the finished bowl was taken from the mould, it was probably dipped in varnish or dull paint and fired. According to Prof. P.V.C. Baur, the stamps used for making moulds were not produced in every manufacturing centre of ‘Megarian’ bowls, but were made only in important centres such as Athens, Pergamon, Antioch and Alexandria, and sold to potters throughout the Hellenistic world. The fact that the edge of the bowl is turned outwards suggests Athenian production, and a comparison with the decorative petals on the Delian Cup (no.1913.199 of the Rebecca Darlington collection) is also plausible.