22 avril 2008
La Grèce célèbre le retour de 'Lekythos'
'Lekythos' was presented to the media by Greek Culture Minster Michalis Liapis
ATHENS-Greek Culture Minister, Michalis Liapis, was pesent at the National Archaeological Museum in Greece to witness the return of a funerary urn named "lekythos" made from marble during the years 400-500 BC. The "lekythos" was brought back to Greece from Basel, Switzerland where it was part of of the collection of antiquarian J.D. Cahn.
A lekythos (plural lekythoi) is a type of Greek pottery used for storing oil, especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel. The lekythos was used for anointing dead bodies of unmarried men and many lekythoi are found in tombs. The images on lekythoi were often depictions of daily activities or rituals. Because they are so often used in funerary situations, they may also depict funerary rites, a scene of loss, or a sense of departure. These drawings are usually outline drawings that are quite expressionless and somber in appearance. The decoration of these ceramic vessels consists of a dull red and black paint. These colors may have been derived from the Bronze Age, but were not used until 530 B.C. in Athens. Many artists of these vessels attempt to add more color to the figures, but end up abandoning the idea as to leave more of a contrast. These vessels were very popular circa the 5th century B.C., however there are many that have been found dating all the way back to 700 B.C.
Lekythoi can be divided into five types:
the standard or cylindrical lekythos, which measures between 30 and 50 cm though there are much larger lekythoi, up to 1 m, which may have been used to replace funerary stele, the Deianeria lekythos which originates from Corinth, this form has an oval profile and a round shoulder and is generally of a small size (20cm), it was produced from the beginning of the black figure period until the late 6th century, the secondary or shoulder lekythos, a variation on the standard type produced from the mid 5th century on, most are decorated with the white ground technique and measure around 20cm, the squat lekythos, usually less than 20cm in height with a rounded belly and a flat base, the acorn lekythos, a rarer form, which has an oval profile and a net of points at the base.
Le vase funéraire du 4e siècle A.J-C restitué à la Grèce. (Photo fourni par le ministère grec de la Culture).
ATHENES (AFP) - Un antiquaire suisse a restitué à la Grèce un vase funéraire antique en marbre du IVe siècle avant J.C. trouvé lors de fouilles clandestines, a annoncé lundi le ministère grec de la Culture.
Le vase de près d'un mètre de haut, un lécythe, avait été repéré l'année dernière dans une exposition internationale d'antiquitaires à Maastricht aux Pays-Bas, où ce marchand suisse le vendait aux enchères, ajoute un communiqué du ministère.
La brigade grecque de lutte contre le trafic d'antiquités avait identifié le vase comme étant "le produit d'un trafic" et constaté qu'il avait été "exporté illégalement de Grèce", après une enquête pour déterminer le lieu et la date de la fouille clandestine et la filière utilisée pour le vendre.
A l'issue de négociations, l'antiquitaire a décidé de rendre "sans réserve et sans condition" le lécythe à l'ambassade de Grèce à Berne, précise le ministère.
Athènes a signé en mai 2007 avec la Suisse, carrefour mondial du trafic d'antiquités, un accord de coopération visant à renforcer la lutte contre le trafic et assurer une assistance mutuelle pour retrouver les oeuvres pillées et les rapatrier dans leur pays d'origine.
Le ministre de la Culture Michalis Liapis a indiqué lundi au cours d'une présentation de ce vase au musée national que ses services avaient repéré d'autres antiquités pillées à l'étranger, sans cependant fournir de détails.
Après des décennies de laisser-faire, Athènes a fait de la lutte contre le pillage d'antiquités et leur restitution une priorité nationale, qui culmine avec sa campagne pour le retour des frises du Parthénon, détenues par le British Museum de Londres, qui refuse de les restituer.
19 avril 2008
A garnet gaming piece in the form of a boar - Probably Roman
A garnet gaming piece in the form of a boar - Probably Roman
The animal couchant, modelled with a medial ridge down its back, flattened ears and a curling tail, set on an integral base, 28mm long - Estimate: £1,000 - 1,500
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Bonhams. Antiquities, 1 May 2008. New Bond Street
A group of six Syrian terracotta animals - Circa 1st Millennium B.C.
A group of six Syrian terracotta animals - Circa 1st Millennium B.C.
Including a ram with detailed modelling of the fleece and large curving horns, 5in (12.8cm) long; a horned quadruped with a rider on its back, decorated with multiple pierced holes in the body, 3in (7.5cm) long; another with a vent hole in its back, 3¾in (9.5cm) long; another with stylised arching ears and an applied brow band, 3¼in (8.2cm) long; and two others of similar form, 3¼in (8.2cm) longest, some repaired with restoration (6) - Estimate: £500 - 700
Provenance: Property of a private Dutch collector acquired in the 1970s from various London auction houses.
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Bonhams. Antiquities, 1 May 2008. New Bond Street
A Luristan bronze ibex - Circa 9th-8th Century B.C.
A Luristan bronze ibex - Circa 9th-8th Century B.C.
Modelled with back curving noduled horns, protruding ears, pierced nostrils and a short up-turned tail, standing on a hollow barrel-shaped socle, 37/8in (9.2cm) high, one horn restored, mounted - Estimate: £700 - 900
Provenance: European private collection, from the late 1950s onwards.
(Copyright © 2002-2008 Bonhams 1793 Ltd., Images and Text All Rights Reserved)
Bonhams. Antiquities, 1 May 2008. New Bond Street
A Greek terracotta figure of a boar - Circa 5th-4th Century B.C.
A Greek terracotta figure of a boar - Circa 5th-4th Century B.C.
The ears moulded in relief with a central raised ridge along the back, some white slip remaining, 3½in (9cm) long, the snout chipped. Estimate: £300 - 500
Provenance: Private English family collection since at least the late 1950s.
Literature: For a similar example, cf. J. Chesterman, Classical Terracotta Figures, (London 1974), pp. 38 & 40, fig. 29
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Bonhams. Antiquities, 1 May 2008. New Bond Street
A Rhodian green glazed composition 'plastic vase' in the form of a hedgehog - Circa 6th Century B.C.
A Rhodian green glazed composition 'plastic vase' in the form of a hedgehog - Circa 6th Century B.C.
The body textured with incised cross-hatching representing spines, with short front and back legs, set on a rectangular integral base, the aperture rising from the back, now damaged, 2in (5.1cm) high - Estimate: £800 - 1,200
Provenance: Acquired by the current owner's father in the 1930s, probably in Egypt where he was stationed. Thence by descent.
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Bonhams. Antiquities, 1 May 2008. New Bond Street
An Etrusco-Corinthian terracotta 'plastic vase'/monkey and a Sicilian terracotta 'plastic vase'/mouse. Circa 5th Century B.C.
An Etrusco-Corinthian terracotta 'plastic vase' in the form of a monkey and a Sicilian terracotta 'plastic vase' in the form of a mouse - Circa 5th Century B.C.
The animal depicted squatting, his knees drawn up in front and clasped with his hands, dots added in brown slip all over the body, the spout emanating from the top of the head, 3¾in (9.5cm) high, repaired, and a Sicilian terracotta 'plastic vase' in the form of a mouse with his forelegs raised to his mouth, the eyes and ears applied, with details of the fur added in umber slip, the main spout with strap handle, a smaller oblique spout on the left side, circa 5th-4th Century B.C., 3¾in (9.5cm) long, repaired with some restoration (2) - Estimate: £1,000 - 1,500
Provenance: Property of a private Dutch collector. The monkey alabastron formerly in the collection of M.D.J. Chesterman Esq. Both acquired at a London auction house circa 1975.
Published: For the monkey alabastron, cf. Sotheby's London, Antiquities, Islamic and Indian Art, Monday 14 July, 1975, lot 139
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Bonhams. Antiquities, 1 May 2008. New Bond Street
Chez Bonhams London, vente consacrée à la civilisation d'Ur
Sumerian clay tablet Circa 2500-2300 B.C. inscribed with four columns of cuneiform script providing a listing of gardening hoes issued to workers on a big temple or palace estate. Estimate £1,000-1,500.
LONDON.-Four extraordinary `grocery lists’ dating from the fabled city of Ur 4000 years ago – the cradle of civilisation - will be sold at Bonhams with estimates ranging from £1,500 to £40,000.
Lot 145 is a large Sumerian Ur III clay tablet, circa 2046-2038 B.C. The tablet has five columns of cuneiform text on one side, and three columns with text on the reverse relating to domestic animals and including itemised livestock for sacrifices. It is estimated to sell for between £30,000-40,000.
The tablet comes from the Erlenmeyer Collection, Basel, Switzerland. The late Professor Hans and Mrs Marie-Louise Erlenmeyer shared a mutual interest in the cultural history and religions of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, which led to the forming of their collection of antiquities between 1943 and the early 1960s.
Professor Lambert, a leading authority on cuneiform writing, notes that the tablet records the administration of domestic animals in the town of Umma in Sumer and lists the manner in which the flocks were divided during the course of one year. Some were marked as being for government supplies, while others were destined to be supplies for the officially supported religious cults existing in Umma at that time.
The tablet provides a remarkable insight into the daily life of this ancient civilisation and details the particular manner in which animals of one type are distinguished from others within their group. Sheep, for instance, are described as grass-fed or grain-fed, unplucked or plucked, which shows the importance placed upon specific features of the livestock.
Religious institutions named in the distribution of oxen, cattle, goats, sheep and lambs include the temple of Shara, and the temples of Enilagarsikilla and Emakhsikilla. Statues also receive mention, as animals were sacrificed to them, while other offerings were made on public occasions, such as Eshesh festivals, (a festival corresponding to the phases of the moon). Animals are conducted to their sacrificial destinations by cupbearers, officials and a physician.
Lot 146 is a large Sumerian cuneiform clay tablet from the Third Dynasty of Ur, 2060-2025 B.C. This tablet features with seven columns on each side of the tablet. It consists of an administrative document with a detailed record of outgoings of food and drinks from a large temple or palace estate, including beer and cereal products. Estimate £10,000-15,000
The clay tablet, the property of an Australian private collector, was acquired in lieu of medical services provided in January 1980. Before that it was in the collection of Mr J. Glitman, who began collecting in the 1950s and was a retired antiques dealer of Balaclava, Victoria, Australia.
Lot 147 is a Sumerian clay tablet dating from 2600-2300 B.C., is an administrative document from the upper Euphrates Valley. Estimate £1,500-1,800.
Lot 148 is a Sumerian clay tablet Circa 2500-2300 B.C. inscribed with four columns of cuneiform script providing a listing of gardening hoes issued to workers on a big temple or palace estate. Estimate £1,000-1,500.
17 avril 2008
Pendentif représentant un aigle à deux têtes. Delta du Diquis. Costa Rica. 1 000-1 500 après J.-C.
Pendentif représentant un aigle à deux têtes. Delta du Diquis. Costa Rica. 1 000-1 500 après J.-C. 11 x 12 cm. Estimation : 50 000/75 000 €.
Le 26 septembre dernier, une trentaine de bijoux d’or, du Costa Rica et du Panama, issus de l’ancienne collection Charles Craig, recueillaient des enchères comprises entre 2 000 et près de 50 000 €. En sera-t-il de même de la petite dizaine de pendentifs proposés dans quelques jours ? On peut le supposer ou tout au moins l’espérer. Car à la rareté s’ajoute ici le raffinement de cette orfèvrerie, qui, comme l’indiquait l’exposition "Les esprits, l’or et les chamans" du Grand Palais, au printemps 2000, offrait au visiteur de "voir le monde avec d’autres yeux". Si cette dernière invitait le voyageur en terre colombienne, la dispersion d’aujourd’hui, comme celle de la collection Craig, convie l’amateur dans une zone s’étalant sur 200 km, entre le Costa Rica et le Panama, dans les régions du Diquis, du Chiriqui et du Veraguas. Comme le feu, l’or est sacré avant même de conférer puissance et beauté. Il est la chair et la peau de la divinité, la gloire, la lumière retenue qui va immortaliser et rapprocher du divin celui qui le porte : le chaman. La datation de ces bijoux, exécutés selon les techniques de la fonte à la cire perdue et du filigrane, se situe entre 800 et 1 500 après J.-C. C’est l’âge d’or des Indiens d’Amérique Centrale. "Celui où l’or n’est plus adoré, mais où il sert à adorer, où il rappelle les devoirs de la véritable adoration", écrit Solange Auzias de Turenne. Portés (sur le torse) durant sa vie terrestre, ces pendentifs accompagnent également le chaman dans la tombe, ou plutôt dans son existence dans l’au-delà. Il est donc logique que leur iconographie soit liée aux rituels chamaniques et particulièrement à l’évocation de la transformation et du vol extatique du prêtre. Ces mutations pouvaient être multiples, comme en témoigne le bestiaire fantastique de la collection Craig et de celle d’aujourd’hui. L’homme-oiseau (ou l’aigle), symbolise le vol du chaman dans d’autres mondes. Porteurs de l’énergie vitale et créatrice du soleil, ces bijoux jouaient leur rôle à l’occasion de cérémonies religieuses ou de rites funéraires. Les choses changent complètement avec l’arrivée des conquistadors. Auparavant symbole de prestige, l’or devient source d’enrichissement pour la couronne espagnole. Une nouvelle preuve, s’il en était besoin, que rien ni personne n’est éternel ! www.gazette-drouot.com Mercredi 16 avril, salle 4. Binoche SVV. M. Blazy.
16 avril 2008
The 'Beth-Shan' Bust - A monumental Roman marble double herm - Eastern Mediterranean, circa 2nd-3rd Century A.D.
The 'Beth-Shan' Bust - A monumental Roman marble double herm - Eastern Mediterranean, circa 2nd-3rd Century A.D.
Carved from marmo lunense with the opposing heads of Bacchus and Ariadne, each with the shapely lips parted revealing teeth, the eyes with drilled tear-ducts, incised irises and drilled crescentic pupils gazing upwards, each with a sharp arching brow ridge and straight nose, Bacchus wearing a fillet across his forehead, the centrally parted hair dressed with a rich garland of ivy leaves with two frontal clusters of berries, and vine leaves and bunches of grapes hanging down behind the ears, Ariadne with softer features and a fuller face, her wavy hair centrally parted and dressed with delicate ivy berries and leaves, 18¾in (47.5cm) high, 16in (41cm) diam, mounted on an Italian breccia violette marble pedestal, 39in (99cm) high, accompanied by a wooden plaque, gilt inscribed, 'The Beth Shan Bust, Bacchus and Ariadne, Graeco-Roman Period, circa 300 B.C.'; and with a set of six black and white photographic glass plates, taken in Jerusalem, pre 1940, 7 x 5in (18 x 13.5cm), one cracked - Estimate: £60,000 - 90,000
Provenance: Discovered at Beth Shan, Palestine probably in the 1930s. Purchased by Somerset de Chair in Jerusalem in 1941 and brought back to England, where it has remained in the private collection of the de Chair family.
Exhibited: At the family home of Chilham Castle, near Canterbury, Kent until 1948 (see fig.1). Then at the subsequent family home of St Osyth's Priory, Nr Colchester, Essex from 1958, where it was on display when the house was occasionally opened to the public. The bust remained there for 40 years until the death of Somerset de Chair in 1995, when it passed by descent to his eldest son Rodney de Chair, the present owner.
Published:
Somerset Struben de Chair, Morning Glory, (1988 Devon, Merlin Books Ltd. ISBN 086303) p.169.
Somerset Struben de Chair, The Golden Carpet, (1943, Golden Cocerel Press)
Somerset Struben de Chair, Buried Pleasure, (1985 Devon, Merlin Books Ltd. ISBN 0 86303 2397)
Somerset Struben de Chair, Mind on the March, (1945 London, Faber and Faber Ltd.)
Literature:
Although originally thought to be of Hellenistic manufacture, circa 300 B.C., as indicated on the accompanying wooden plaque, it is more likely that this double herm is Roman in date. The depiction of Bacchus, or as he is more often referred, Dionysos, is not an uncommon subject for herms and was variously replicated in Roman times, showing the god similarly bedecked and garlanded. Although influenced by the Hellenistic style, this herm is not in the true sense a copy of a Hellenistic original, but rather a free decorative creation by a classicising sculptor. The carving of the faces and the treatment of the eyes in particular point to a mid 2nd –3rd Century A.D. date. Historically speaking a Roman date would also correspond to the expansion of the city of Beth Shan at this time, when impressive monumental sculptures, such as this, would have been erected.
Functionally a double herm or herm, would have either been used as boundary marker or to mark a crossroads, market corner, doorway or entrance, and would have been mounted atop a quadrangular pillar. For an example in the Fitzwilliam museum, cf. L. Budde & R. Nicholls, A Catalogue of the Greek and Roman Sculpture in the Fitwilliam Museum Cambridge, (Cambridge 1967), pl.32, fig 95, p.60. Other examples can be found in, W. Amelung, Kat. Vaticanischen Museums I, 510, no.298, pl.53 and at Leiden, where the youthful Greek bust of Dionysos provides a good comparison for the treatment of the hair.
Discovery and history:
The site of Beth-Shan is situated in a strategic location between the Jordan Valley, and the Harod and Jezreel Valleys, just south of the Sea of Galilee. An important settlement sited on the main trade route from the Transjordanian highway to the Mediterranean coast, it flourished under Egyptian rule, as an administrative centre for Canaan during the Late Bronze Age. It was re-founded in the Hellenistic period, by Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.), who made it one of the ten cities of the Decapolis and renamed it Scythopolis, ‘city of the Scythians’. It was later rebuilt by Pompey in 63 B.C., and by the 1st Century A.D. had become one of the most imposing cities in Palestine, with a 7000 capacity theatre, colonnaded street and extensive buildings. It continued to grow and prosper through the later Roman and Byzantine periods until it was destroyed by an earthquake on 18th January 749 A.D.
Beth Shan was first excavated between 1921-1933, by C.S. Fisher, A. Rowe and G.M. FitzGerald from the University of Pennsylvania, and it is likely that this double herm was discovered just after the excavations in the mid-late 1930s. It was being offered for sale by the licensed dealer Mr Ohan in his shop opposite the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. It was spotted here in the shop window by Somerset Struben de Chair, a young army officer stationed in Palestine with the Royal Horse Guards in 1941. An extract from his memoirs describes the occasion:
'In the course of publishing the magazine I had to visit the Jerusalem Press in Jerusalem several times. In the shop window of an antique dealer called Ohan, opposite the King David hotel, I saw what appeared to be a larger than life bust of Bacchus, apparently in stone. On entering the shop I was startled to find that it was a double-headed figure, the other of which was the lovely face of his girl-friend Ariadne. They were joined by vine leaves and grapes. After many visits and many cups of black coffee, I entered into a contract with Ohan, under which I paid a ten per cent deposit and gave my executors 18 months to pay the balance and collect it if I did not return from the battlefield.’
Extract from Morning Glory by S.S. de Chair (a copy of the full extract is available on request)
De Chair left Jerusalem shortly after negotiating the purchase, serving as Intelligence Officer during the capturing of Baghdad. On a subsequent engagement near the ruins of Palmyra, he was wounded when the Allies came under heavy aerial fire from the Vichy French, and Italian forces. He was evacuated back to Jerusalem and while convalescing there was able to secure an export license for the bust. It was transported to the Rockefeller Museum, where a full-size plaster cast of it was taken, which is still on display today. The herm was then packed and, ‘Shipped home as ‘Wounded Officer’s Kit'!
'The director of the Rockefeller Museum, Iliffe, had been to see me in hospital, and was willing to take delivery of the Beth Shan bust, for which he would have to issue an export licence before I could take it out of the country. At his house I met the officer, Baxter, who dealt with officers’ baggage; and he arranged to send a lorry to Ohan’s shop, take the crate down to the Museum for licencing and sealing, and then, have it shipped as wounded officer’s baggage to me in England.’
Extract from Buried Pleasure by S.S. de Chair (a copy of the full extract is available on request)
For some three years after the end of World War II, the bust was the decorative centre-piece of the main entrance hall at the family home, Chilham Castle, Kent (see fig 1). When Somerset de Chair left Chilham in 1948, the double herm was stored until 1958 when he moved into his newly acquired Essex home, St. Osyth's Priory. Apart from its period away for restorative cleaning in 1982-3, the herm remained there for almost 40 years on the main staircase leading off the Gatehouse's entrance hall and was on public display when the house was opened to visitors from time to time. Somerset de Chair died in 1995 and the double herm passed to Rodney S. de Chair, his eldest son. Thus the bust has been little known to the outside world for almost 70 years.
Restorative Cleaning:
The bust's condition when acquired in 1941 can be seen fairly precisely by virtue of the six high-resolution images that were recorded on glass photographic plates in around 1940 in Jerusalem, which accompany this lot (see figs 2&3). Messrs. Harmon Hill Ltd. of Little Oakley, Northamptonshire conducted the work during 1982 and 1983. As a result of the cleaning, the striations in the marble were revealed, probably an important feature of the work's original appearance and previously hidden by the encrustation. An assessment of the cleaning was conducted by an experienced conservator in 2004 who determined that the restorative cleaning of the bust had proved beneficial, and had been carried out in line with usual conservation practice. (A copy of a photograph taken during cleaning is available on request).
(Copyright © 2002-2008 Bonhams 1793 Ltd., Images and Text All Rights Reserved)
Bonhams. Antiquities, 1 May 2008. New Bond Street