LOT 0046

Scythian Bronze Mirror with Panther Handle

5TH-4TH CENTURY B.C.

17 3/4 in. (1.8 kg total, 45 cm high including stand).

Comprising a discoid body with raised rim, ribbed handle and openwork stylised panther to the terminal; mounted on a custom-made display stand; some restoration.

Acquired 1971-1972.
From the collection of the vendor's father.
Property of a London, UK, collector.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.202711.

Cf. Trofimova, A., Greeks on the Black Sea: Ancient Art from the Hermitage, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007, item 29j; see also Leypunskaya, N. A., Olbian-Scythian Trade: Exchange Issues in the Sixth to Fourth Centuries BC, Oxford, 2007.

The 'Olbian type' mirror takes its name from the Greek colony of Olbia, a port on the Black Sea, which enjoyed close commercial links with the neighbouring Scythian territories. Olbian mirrors form an important element in this trade network, although whether the craftsmen who made them were Scythians or Greeks working in Scythian style for the Black Sea market is still undecided. The animal ornament of the mirrors reproduces the zoomorphic art used elsewhere by the Scythian elite.