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LOT 0058
Scythian Mirror with Crouching Stag
5TH-4TH CENTURY B.C.
12 3/8 in. (570 grams, 31.5 cm).
Discoid body with raised rim; ribbed column-like handle with a kneeling stag above, supporting the mirror with its large antlers.
ProvenanceMr M.B., Mainz, Germany, since the 1960s.
Acquired from the above, 2007.
Private collection, London.
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 no.12182-221464.
Cf. Loehr, M., ‘The Stag Image in Schythia and the Far East’ in Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, Vol. 9 (1955), pp. 63-76; 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.
FootnotesBronze mirrors of this type with zoomorphic handles, were widespread in the Scythian archaeology of the Northern Black Sea Region, Northern Caucasus and Carpathian Basin. Handles were often decorated with sculptured depictions of rams, feline predators or deer (stag). The similarity with Scythian art is clearly visible by comparing the stag of our mirror with the stags from the Scythian steppe culture (Loehr, 1955, figs.5,6,10,13-21).
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LOT 0058
Scythian Mirror with Crouching Stag
Estimate £2,000 - 3,000€2,320 - 3,480 (for guidance only)$2,700 - 4,050 (for guidance only)
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Etruscan Bronze Artefact Group
Circa 8th-7th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Comprising: a ring brooch with addorsed horse-heads; crescent mount fragment with eagles' claws. 82 grams total, 74-84 mm
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. -
Graeco-Roman Bronze Statuette of a Draped Female
1st century B.C.-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,170
Modelled in the round with the right hand raised palm-outward and left hand clasped, the pallium gathered round the body and draped over the head; on a base. 699 grams, 14 cm
Acquired in Egypt by Lieutenant James Alexander Goodman in the 1920s. Thence by descent to his grandson.
Lieutenant Goodman served in the 4th Battalion Welsh Regiment during World War I and saw action in Palestine during the capture of Bethlehem, (for which he won an MC). After the war, he setup a business selling Fordson trucks and tractors in Alexandria, Egypt. A keen antiquarian, he collected ancient objects during his time in Alexandria and when he visited the pyramids at Giza. After his first marriage failed, he returned to the UK in the early 1930s. On his death in 1959, he passed his small collection of Egyptian objects on to his second wife, Ruby Goodman. On Ruby’s death in 1994, they were left to their second daughter, Rosemary Johnson, (née Goodman), and are currently in the possession of her son. -
Etruscan Bronze Statuette of a Priest Offering
4th-2nd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,430
Modelled standing barefoot on an irregular base, wearing an ankle-length chlamys over a short-sleeved tunic; the left arm supporting a bunch of grapes, the right hand with a patera; the hair and beard neatly dressed; mounted on a custom-made stand. 279 grams total, 14 cm including stand
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12317-214667.
Lares were supernatural guardians revered in ancient Roman, the cult probably adapted from an Etruscan predecessor; the word lar derives from Etruscan larth - a leader or overlord. They were believed to guard the family's wealth and look after their health and wellbeing. An offering-plate is usually modelled in one of the figure's hands, onto which small libations could be made. They were usually worshipped in groups, but offerings to individuals are also known.
