Loading, please wait...
LOT 0056
Mycenaean Painted Pottery Flask
14TH-13TH CENTURY B.C.
4 3/8 in. (132 grams, 11.1 cm).
Comprising a circular body with a rounded base and two strap handles, a short neck with an everted rim; the body with a painted expanding cross motif with the arms separated by a band of pellets.
ProvenancePrivate collection, Switzerland, acquired in the 1994.
Private family collection since the late 1990s.
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.13018-246795.
Cf. Karageorghis, V., Cipro, Crocevia del Mediterraneo Orientale, 1500-500 d.C., Milano, 2002, p.46, figs.86-88, for similar pottery.
FootnotesMycenaean ceramics were influenced by Minoan shapes and decorative styles from the late Middle Helladic period. This close relationship – likely accompanied by the development of shared cultural practices and etiquette – creates the hypothesis that pilgrim flasks were introduced to Greece via Crete. Pilgrim flasks were produced in Mycenaean contexts from the Late Helladic IIA:1 period (1420-1390 B.C.).
CONDITIONTimeLine 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.
LOT 0056
Mycenaean Painted Pottery Flask
Estimate £1,200 - 1,700€1,390 - 1,970 (for guidance only)$1,620 - 2,300 (for guidance only)
Opening Bid
£600 (EUR 696; USD 810) ‡+BP*
-
Greek Terracotta Spindle Flask
Hellenistic, late 2nd-1st century B.C.Estimate: £50 - 70 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
With long narrow neck developing to a fusiform body and flared foot. 72 grams, 12 cm
From the collection of a Cambridge, UK, gentleman, by direct descent from his father, who acquired the items in London in circa 1960. -
Greek Terracotta Oil Lamp
Circa late 5th century B.C.Estimate: £60 - 80 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
Shallow, round body with inturned rim to the central vent, square-ended nozzle and low foot; lateral lugs forming attachment points for a handle (absent); old collector's labels to underside and '1801' to nozzle; typed data panel. 56 grams, 90 mm
From the collection of the late Bernard C. Pickard, Hampshire, UK, the owner of Bernard C. Pickard Antiquities, which closed in 1987, he had been collecting since the mid 1950s. Accompanied by a typed information display card.
Bernard Pickard was a close friend of Richard Hattatt, the renowned author of several books on ancient brooches. Hattatt acknowledges in his first book, Ancient & Romano-British Brooches, published in 1982, that Mr Pickard first aroused his interest in brooches and inspired him in writing his books during his retirement. Mr Pickard also wrote the foreword to the section on Roman animal brooches, op.cit. p.158-160. -
Greek Bronze Hercules and Antaeus Statue Group
Hellenistic, 3rd-1st century B.C.Estimate: £10,000 - 14,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £4,900
Dynamic scene of two nude wrestlers, the giant Antaeus and Hercules, Hercules lifting Antaeus off the ground with his arms, while Antaeus is trying to pry his arms open to regain his contact with Mother Earth that would restore his strength; set on a custom-made display stand. 1.01 kg total, 20.3 cm high including stand
Mallams Oxford. From a UK private collection since the 1970s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13333-258242.
Here, the giant Antaeus is depicted with the more common dimensions of the hero, Hercules. Antaeus was a giant, the son of Neptune and Gaia. Antaeus would challenge all passers-by to wrestling matches and remained invincible as long as he remained in contact with his mother, the earth. As Greek wrestling, like its modern equivalent, typically attempted to force opponents to the ground, he always won, killing his opponents. He built a temple to his father using the skulls of his defeated opponents. Antaeus fought Hercules as he was on his way to the Garden of Hesperides as his Eleventh Labour. Hercules realised that he could not beat Antaeus by throwing or pinning him. Instead, he held him aloft and then crushed him to death in a bear hug. The scene is famously depicted on a Greek krater dating to the sixth century BC and now in the Louvre, and was a popular subject for Renaissance artists. The episode of Hercules defeating Antaeus is mentioned in the Metamorphoses by Ovid.
