Large Phoenician Terracotta Head of a Man

With two handles and an everted rim; parallel, vertical strokes on the neck and below a swan with its wings open and neck elegantly curved, a staff on the background. 57.1 grams, 76 mm



Swiss private collection, assembled in the 1960s and 1970s. Acquired by the present owner in 2004. 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 a search certificate number no.13019-246754.

The swan was a favoured motif in Greek art, admired for its elegance and associations with divinity and beauty. In mythology, the bird was sacred to Apollo, god of music and light, whose chariot was said to be drawn by swans on his annual journey to the land of the Hyperboreans. It was likewise linked to Aphrodite, symbolising love and sensuality, and appears in scenes celebrating harmony and the ideal of beauty. The swan also featured prominently in the myth of Leda and the Swan, in which Zeus, transformed into the bird, inspired numerous representations across Greek art.

Broad and shallow with thick rolled rim; parcel-gilt band to the inner face below the rim of running scrolls on a pounced field; to the centre, a hexafoil reserved on a pounced field with border of running scrolls; pointillé cursive Aramaic inscription to the outer face. 413 grams, 20.6 cm wide



Private collection, London, 1990s or earlier. with Gorny & Mosch, 22 June 2007, no.37. with Christie's, New York, 5 December 2012, no.52. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Gorny & Mosch and Christie's catalogue pages. 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.13217-250131.

The bowl is related to a large group of Hellenistic silver vessels of similar shape, some with Aramaic inscriptions on the exterior beneath the rim, all thought to be of eastern origin, produced within the Seleucid Empire. Here, the Aramaic inscription, now mostly unreadable, reports the name of the maker and the weight of the bowl as 118 zuzim.

Comprising a squat body with a median band of vertical ribbing, a short neck with a broad flared rim, and a thickened outer rim, a flared foot; fluted strap handle and a U-section spout flared at the outer end. 211 grams, 14 cm



UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Private collection, London, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13266-253452.

This jug can plausibly be placed in the Lydian world of western Anatolia during the Archaic period, when Lydia stood at the crossroads of the Greek and Near Eastern worlds. Far from being culturally isolated, Lydia was deeply involved in the exchange of artistic forms, luxury materials, and metalworking traditions that moved across the eastern Mediterranean in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. The attribution, therefore, suggests more than geography alone: it points to a wealthy and outward-looking culture in which prestige objects in precious metal carried both social and economic weight. Silver was especially important in this period. Before coinage became widespread, it functioned as a recognised store of value and circulated in weighed forms across the Mediterranean and Near East. In Lydia, its importance is sharpened by the region’s close association with the early history of coinage: ancient sources and modern scholarship alike connect the Lydians with the development of some of the earliest coined money, first in electrum and soon after in distinct gold and silver issues. A vessel such as this would therefore have been more than a practical object. Its material alone marked it as a possession of consequence, while its workmanship placed it firmly within the culture of elite display.