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LOT 0228
Western Asiatic Amethyst Bead Necklace with Gold Beads
CIRCA 4TH-2ND CENTURY B.C.
20 3/4 in. (69.6 grams, 52.5 cm).
A designer necklace composed of forty amethyst beads of various shapes and six gold spheres, decorated with granulation and spirals, forming opposed pelta patterns; with later openwork clasp.
ProvenanceAcquired on European art market, 1990s.
Private collection of Mr K.A., France.
with Kallos Gallery, London.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13012-246749.
Cf. Marshall, F.H., Catalogue of the Jewellery, Greek, Etruscan and Roman, in the Department of Antiquities, British Museum, London, 1911.no.2044, for a necklace of similar gold spheres.
FootnotesAmethyst was widely used in Graeco-Roman Egypt. We know that the amethyst mines of Abu Diyeiba, near Semna, were in use from the time of Ptolemy VI through to the Roman era. Pliny says that Indian amethysts were the best, but he also refers to amethysts from Egypt. The Egyptian amethysts are typically flawed and of a pale, almost pink, hue. They were seldom set in gold and were most usually made into beads. Ptolemaic and Roman inscriptions and artefacts have been found at amethyst mines in Egypt’s eastern deserts.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0228
Western Asiatic Amethyst Bead Necklace with Gold Beads
Estimate £2,500 - 3,500€2,900 - 4,060 (for guidance only)$3,380 - 4,730 (for guidance only)
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Bactrian Lapis Lazuli Recumbent Bull with Inlaid Eyes
3rd millennium B.C.Estimate: £800 - 1,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £270
Modelled in the round with the legs folded beneath the body, pierced at the rump through the curved tail; sockets at the eyes, each with inlay; bronze mounting rod set into the lower body. 27.1 grams, 45 mm
with Gallery Rosen Ancient Art, Tel Aviv, 1968. with a London, UK gallery, 1971-early 2000s. Accompanied by a copy of the original 1968 invoice. -
Persian Gilt Painted Shahnameh Miniature Leaf
20th century A.D.Estimate: £400 - 600 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £200
Paper leaf from a manuscript mounted in a rectangular veneer reveal; Side A: gilt-bordered painted miniature with in two bands of calligraphic text divided into four blocks; nobleman in floor-length robe wearing a crown and turban sitting on a gilt throne with floral decoration, stroking his beard; two courtiers to his rear and a third to one side; standing military figure in helmet and mailcoat, with a scabbarded shamshir at his side, greaves and poleyns on his legs; all set in a garden with fountain and verdure; Side B: four columns of calligraphic text in 29 lines; signature to the bottom left. 90 grams, 40.2 x 28 cm
Private collection, UK. -
Neo-Assyrian Stone Relief with Standing Figure
9th-8th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,900
Corner fragment from a high-relief pictorial panel with raised border; domed dais with low-relief scaled detailing; lower legs and sandaled feet in advancing pose with ankle-length open-fronted robe, horizontal woven texture and curled fleece; high-relief stele with flared base, bulbous upper and sugar-loaf finial; pitted surface, with tooling to reverse. 2.81 kg, 24.3 cm
Ex German collection, c.1980. with Toufic Arakji, Hamburg, 1997. Private collection, Europe. 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.12579-232134.
Stylistically, the figure seems to be linked to the kingdom of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C.) or his son Shalmaneser III (858-824 B.C.). The exposed lower leg with exaggerated musculature is seen in many Assyrian and Babylonian depictions of divine and heroic figures. The position of the figure, corresponding to some reliefs kept in the Louvre, where a spirit is worshipping a poppy flower (Houston, 1954, pl.V.1), and the high-relief carving, strongly refer to a cult scene.
