By Carter B. Horsley
The antiquities market abounds in popular and well-known objects such as Greek and Roman marble statues and busts, bronze statuettes of Roman and Egyptian gods, Egyptian reliefs, Roman mosaics, Greek vases, Sumerian figures and tablets, Egyptian and Roman jewelry and the like.
For collectors there is a wide diversity of quality and condition.
For connoisseurs, there is a small amount of "surprises" and puzzles and this auction has some lots that are bound to intrigue them.
Lot 193, for example, is a "monumental" limestone figure of a lion, 30th Dynasty/Ptolemaic Period, 380-30 B.C., shown above. The 49-inch-long-and-27 1/2-inch-high sculpture is noted for its archaic style, its quixotic grin, and the charming way its tall wraps around the roughly finished base. The treatment of the lion's mane is highly and nicely stylized but rests against a stippled breast with a straight-line base. The sculpture also is incised to delineate the right front leg's muscles but there is also an inexplicable incised double line that runs along the lion's right side. The recumbent pose is regal, but unusual in that the right front paw rests on an upturned-turned left paw, a rather unusual stance. The catalogue notes that the eyes are recessed for inlay and that there is "ancient graffiti with Roman numerals on the top of the left leg." The catalogue also compares the present lot with monumental granite lions in the Vatican that it suggests may have inspired it and also takes note of a "number of considerably smaller versions, and a limestone lion in the Louvre of the same length. "Here Christiane Ziegler noted that 'the sense of movement and suppleness emanating from these cats contrasts with the rigidity of the pharonic sphinxes and has long intrigued the experts,'" the catalogue entry continued.
One wonders whether is was an unfinished sculptor's model for a more finished work in higher quality stone or perhaps a work whose date and culture is not entirely clear, and no provenance is mentioned in the catalogue.
The lot has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000 and clearly its size and completeness and the finely done head are impressive. It sold for $154,250 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article.
Size can make a difference in market values as evident in some other auction highlights.
Lot 45 is a Roman bronze figure of Aphrodite, circa 2nd/3rd Century, A.D., that is finely modeled and stands 9 inches high. It has an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. It sold for $20,300.
Lot 21, for example, is a bronze figure of Aphrodite Anadyomene, Roman Imperial, circa 1st Century A.D., shown above, that is very striking because it has a full-figure statue of Aphrodite raising her hands to rinse the seam foram from her hair looming over an much smaller ithyphallic herm of Priapus at her left, both standing on a curved base that is part of the sculpture. Priapus is looking up at Aphrodite, whose ears are pierced for earrings, and the catalogue notes "another small figure, perhaps a dolphin or Eros, [is] missing on Aphrodite's right side." There is a fragementary marble statue of Aphrodite with an ithyphallic Priapus standing to her left in the Vatican Museum and a smaller bronze similar to this lot but with a dolphin on her right was auctioned at Sotheby's, New York, June 5, 1999. This sculpture is 12 1/2 inches tall, including the curved bronze pedestal. This lot has a somewhat ambitious estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $115,750.
In contrast, Lot 18, an Etruscan bronze figure of Herakles, circa 3rd Century B.C., shown above, is only 6 1/2 inches high and has an estimate of $20,000 to $25,000, and Lot 20, shown below, a Roman bronze figure of Mars Ultor, circa 2nd Century A.D., is only 5 5/16 inches high and has an estimate of $12,000 to $18,000. Lot 18 sold for $31,800, but Lot 20 failed to sell. Both these lots are very nicely sculpted with good patinas. The former one, however, is missing his right foot and part of his left and the latter, shown above, is missing part of his right arm. Both of these lots are a bit larger than many of the bronze statuettes that appear frequently on the market.
The auction has a couple of very fine helmets and some good large statues and busts.
Lot 30 is a marble head of Aphrodite, Roman Imperial, circa 1st Century, A.D., that has not been defaced and is quite beautiful. The 8-inch high head, shown above, comes from the collection of Phyllis Coons and has an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $46,750.
A less beautiful woman is depicted in Lot 53, but she is very imposing and has a most impressive hairdo. This 20-inch-high marble bust of a lady, Roman Imperial, reign of Domitian, circa A. D. 81-96, was once in the collection of von Boschan-Aschrott in Viena in the 19th Century and is in exquisite condition with great detail. The woman's mature face has a "reflective expression," and has a "finely arranged coiffure framing the forehead in a high semi-circle of small spiral curls, and drawn back behind the ears and up from the nape of the neck into a turban of coiled braids behind the crown, small curls escaping the neck," the catalogue noted. The lot has a quite modest estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. It sold for $92,750.
Greek and Roman sculptors could not only fashion facial likenesses remarkably well but they also excelled in depictions of diaphonous chitons as evidence by the wonderful treatment in Lot 31, shown above, of the garment worn by Apollo Kitharoidos. The 34-inch high marble statue is Roman Imperial, circa 1st Century A. D. and the catalogue notes that the angle of the missing upper right arm "suggests that the god was playing his instrument," a kithara, a fragment of which is cradled in his missing left arm. This lot has an conservative estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $46,750.
A similar though smaller work is Lot 29, a Roman marble figure of a Barbarian, circa 1st/2nd Century A.D. The 23 1/2-inch high statue is less finely modeled but has considerable charm because of its animated stance and the remains of the figure's right hand on the right hip. It has an estimate of $12,000 to $18,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 68 is a very impressive Greek helmet, circa late 4th Century, B.C., that is accompanied by a cuirass and a greave. The 13 1/2-inch-high helmet, shown above, is, according to the catalogue, "derived from the Chalcidian type, with hinged cheek-plates with rounded lateral projections, and recessed neck-guard with slight flaring edge, two large spirals on the temple connected above the eyes by a continuous rib, a central gorgoneion between the two ribs, elongated stylized eyebrows in relief below, the slightly carinated crown with a palmette-shapped plate riveted across the crest for reinforcement, the bronze wings with engraved feather decoration fastened below the volutes, a corkscrew-shaped serpent standing erect above each wing." The lot was once in the collection of Axel Guttmann in Berlin and has a modest estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. It sold for $115,750.
Less imposing but no less fine is Lot 70, shown above, a Greek bronze helmet, Magna Graecia, circa 4th Century B.C., that is 11 /3/4 inches long. The helmet's cheek-guards are engraved with confronted wild boars with foliate motifs behind each animal and the catalogue notes that the "fragmentary plume-holder on the crown [is] flanked by fragmentary attachments for additional plumes or horns." The rear flare of the helmet is bit damaged but otherwise this is a very fine helmet and has an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. It sold for $24,900.
Lot 78 is a lovely Hellenistic gold cup, circa 2nd Century B.C., of rounded form, 2 3/4 inches high, that shows four delicately sculpted fisherman on rocky outcrops and an octopus on a rock. It has a conservative estimate of $18,000 to $22,000. It sold for $87,000!
Less dazzling and delicate but still quite striking is Lot 121, a Hittite bronze standard, late 3rd Millennium B.C. The 5 1/2-inch high standard has a highly stylized bull's head with long horns protruding from an openwork sun-disk criss-crossed by diagonal bands. The lot has an ambitious estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 123 is a very good Syro-Phoenician silver figure of a goddess, circa 14th/12th Century B.C., that is 5 13/16 inches tall and shows the goddess with, according to the catalogue, "her feet resting on a rectangular footstool and her hands formerly holding a scepter and weating a long kilt with tasseled overfold in front, the small punched dots along the hem of each perhaps for inlay.and high conical crown with stylized horns, the earlobes pierced for the additions of earrings." The lot has an ambitious estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. It sold for $55,375.
The auction has several excellent lots of Egyptian faience amulets from a German private collection.
Lot 164 consists of two such amulets from the Late Period, 716-30 B.C., one a white hippopotamus-headed Thoeris, shown above, 2 5/16-inches tall, and the other a deep turquoise amulet of ibis-headed Thoth, 2 3/16 inches tall. The lot has a conservative estimate of $1,500 to $2,500. It sold for $7,200.
Lot 162, a lapis lazuli figure of the Horus Falcon, 21st/22nd Dynasty, 1075-732 B.C., 1 7/16 inches high, was estimated at $3,000 to $5,000 and sold for $90,150.
Lot 169 consists of six smaller amulets from the same period including a Horus falcon, two addorsed crocodiles, a vulture, a hare and a baboon. This lot, shown above, has a conservative estimate of $1,500 to $2,500. It was withdrawn but is expected to re-offered at the next antiquities auction at Sotheby's in the fall.
Lot 170 consists of a group of nine amulets, New Kingdom/Late Period, 1540-30 B.C., ranging in size from 7/16 to 1 11/16 inches. It had an estimate of $2,500 to $3,500 and sold for $16,800.
Lot 171 consists of 11 amulets from the same period and includes Isis seated on a lion-legged throne holding Horus in her lap, ram-headed Khnum, ibis-headed Thoth, falcon-headed Horus, lion-headed Sekhmet seated on an openwork throne decorated with serpents and a carnelian figure of Patek. This lot has a conservative estimate of $2,500 to $3,500. It sold for $9,000.
Lot 184 is an exquisite and very fine bronze figure of the God Amun, 22nd Dynasty, 944-714 B.C., that is 4 3/8 inches high and has an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. It sold at Sotheby's New York, December 10, 1999 for $11,500. It sold for $12,000.
The cover illustration of the catalogue is a detail of Lot 192, a limestone relief fragment, late Ptolemaic Period, circa 100-30 B.C., that the catalogue notes is "probably from the dram of a column, carved in sunk relief with a figure of a queen facing left and holding a cypress scepter before her" and wearing an echeloned tripartite wig with a vulture headdress and facing another figure, "probably a Nile God, offering her lotus and papyrus blossoms." The other figure is missing in this relief but not the blossoms that are shown on the catalogue's cover. The fragment has remains of ancient polychromy and is quite impressive but has a conservative estimate of $8,000 to $12,000. It sold for $37,550.
For those for whom reproductions of the Metropolitan Museum's blue faience Egyptian hippopotamus are insufficient, Lot 203 may be enticing as it is a 4 1/4-inch long blue faience hippopotamus, 12th Dynasty, 1938-1759 B.C., that has a modest estimate of $6,000 to $9,000. Although it is smaller and not as brightly decorated as the one at the Metropolitan, it is a blue hippopotamus who rarely wanders in Manhattan! It sold for $9,600.
This sale ended the major spring auction season in New York in 2001 and its generally strong prices indicated that despite a weak national economy the art market appears to have not lost too much of its momentum from last year and remains strong for works of very high quality, although buyers certainly are becoming more selective as indicated by the rather high buy-in rates at many of the season's auctions.