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LOT 0581
Scythian Standing bronze Horse Applique
5TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.
7 in. (254 grams total, 18 cm including frame).
A stylised horse in profile with ring to the voided eye, exaggerated musculature and hatched detailing; mounted in a custom-made frame.
Provenancewith Claude Boisgirard Archaelogie, Paris, 9 November 1999, no.56.
Property of a London, UK, gentleman.
Cf. Lebedinsky, I., Les Saces, Paris, 2006, p.212, for similar.
FootnotesThis applique was probably part of a horse harness and corresponds to various similar plaques produced by the Saka (Scythian) culture of the Pamir. Steppe art favoured animalistic representations, with a predilection for deer, horses, birds of prey and felines. The animals could be represented in series, or alone, or in combat with each other.
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Cypriot Burnished Terracotta Bowl Group
Bronze Age, 2300-1650 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
Mainly hemispherical types with round rim, one with stub handle; mostly repaired. 876 grams total, 8.5-12.7 cm
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. -
Cypriot Terracotta Vessel
8th-7th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
With globular body and flat base, trumpet-shaped neck and mouth with stepped profile, strap handle to the rear; three painted bands to the equator, painted detailing to the mouth and handle; gammadion to the shoulder. 45 grams, 78 mm
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. -
Scythian Mirror with Crouching Stag
5th-4th century B.C.Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,000
Discoid body with raised rim; ribbed column-like handle with a kneeling stag above, supporting the mirror with its large antlers. 570 grams, 31.5 cm
Mr 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.
Bronze 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).
