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_900x900.jpg "Nuragic Bronze Head of a Tribal Chief")
_200x200.jpg "Nuragic Bronze Head of a Tribal Chief")
.jpg "Nuragic Bronze Head of a Tribal Chief")
LOT 0061
Nuragic Bronze Head of a Tribal Chief
CIRCA 8TH CENTURY B.C.
3 5/8 in. (53 grams total, 91 mm including stand).
The head covered by a small low-top cap; sharp and pronounced nose, prominent eyebrows, small swollen mouth; the hair divided into two braids; mounted on a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceEx Frank Sternberg collection, Zürich, Switzerland, circa 1980-1985.
Property of an East Sussex, UK, private collector.
Cf. Lilliu, G., Sculture della Sardegna Nuragica, Nuoro, 2008, figs.4, 5, 7, 28, for similar heads.
FootnotesDespite being stylised representations, these bronzes detail the material culture of warriors, tribal leaders, priests, athletes, men and women
of the late Bronze Age and Iron Age Sardinian society.
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Graeco-Parthian Marble Head of a Divinity
2nd century B.C.-1st century A.D.Estimate: £1,200 - 1,700 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £600
With elongated face and large almond-shaped eyes; braided hair with openwork topknot and socket to accept an inset stud, gathered at the rear in a chignon. 639 grams, 11.6 cm
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.11611-199026.
Several female figures, found in the Parthian graves of Babylonia, are represented in loose attire exhibiting unusual headdresses, which give us some notion of the costume of the period. Some of them show a headgear rising into two tall conical peaks, from which a veil is suspended. Nude female figures, probably representing Assyrian Mylitta or Venus, were extremely common during the Parthian period, having been handed down from antiquity. Similar figures are universal throughout the east before the Christian era. -
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. -
Hellenistic Terracotta Head of the Goddess Demeter
Circa 2nd-1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
Hollow-formed and with rounded facial features; wavy hair with central partition, dressed with a tall diadem. 74 grams total, 78 mm high
UK private collection. Acquired Spink, York, UK, 2009. Property of a Nottinghamshire gentleman.
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.
