Loading, please wait...
Details
LOT 0531
Hellenistic Terracotta Head of the Goddess Demeter
CIRCA 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.
3 in. (74 grams total, 78 mm high).
Hollow-formed and with rounded facial features; wavy hair with central partition, dressed with a tall diadem. [No Reserve]
Provenance
UK private collection.
Acquired Spink, York, UK, 2009.
Property of a Nottinghamshire gentleman.
Literature
Cf. Capano, A., 'Il culto di Demetra nella Lucania antica,' in Basilicata Regione. Notizie, 2017, pp.128-151, fig.23, votive head from San Chirico Nuovo.
Footnotes
The head is probably from a cult statuette of Demeter. Statuettes of the goddess, seated or standing, or even busts, are well documented in the south of Italy, both among the Greek colonists and the local populations; many have been excavated from regional sanctuaries.
CONDITIONVETTING:
TimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
TimeLine is a leading auction house specialising in antiquities, ancient art, collectables, natural history, coins, medals, and books. Our auctions offer museums, collectors, historians, and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire unique and historically significant pieces.
RELATED LOTS
-
Huge Corinthian Black-Figure Lekanis Lid
6th century B.C.Estimate: £6,000 - 8,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £3,000
An extremely large Corinthian or Attic lid with concentric bands to the rim and handle; to the tondo, a frieze of painted figures comprising a swan, a regardant lion, two opposed sphinxes, another regardant lion, another swan, a bull, a lioness and part of another bull(?); restored. 3.7 kg, 49.5 cm wide
Acquired early 1990s. Ex private American collection; thence by descent. Private Swiss collection since 1998. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11614-199000. -
Greek Terracotta Head Fragment
6th-5th century B.C.Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,000
Hollow-formed with neatly dressed hair confined by a cap or fillet; traces of pigment to the eyes. 1.1 kg, 27 cm high
Acquired early 1990s. Ex private American collection; thence by descent. Private Swiss collection since 1998. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11607-198986. -
Greek Terracotta Venus and Triton Group
1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £910
Both figures represented facing with bare chests, Aphrodite sitting next to the triton and holding himation over her head with her right hand, her right leg raised and the left extended, the lower part of her himation covering the lower half of her body; the lower part of Triton’s body covered by marine foliage, from which the long serpentine tail emerges on the opposite side next to Aphrodite's right leg; possibly from Asia Minor; repaired. 688 grams, 18 cm high
Ex French Sorbonne archaeology professor (deceased); 1960s-2000s. Accompanied by an original thermoluminescence analysis report no.QED2323/FG-0201 from the QED Laboratory, Marseille, France.
Many of the Smyrna and Myrina figures are feminine, the heads modelled in late Hellenistic style. The bodies are often either draped in Tanagra-style robes, or represented as figures of Aphrodite, draped, semi-nude or naked. The association with Triton is linked with the Greek myth of Aphrodite born from sea foam.
