Basel Ancient Art Fair - Important Objects

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Press — Important Objects

Very large Cypriot head of a bearded male, possibly representing a king or god. His hair is dressed in a fringe of tight locks beneath a laurel wreath and his beard in formal hooked curls he has a long moustache which falls over his beard.
5th century BC. 17.5" (444mm).
Nose and lower part of beard restored.
US private collection (acquired at auction in 1985), thence private New York State collection.

A very imposing piece. It has been suggested that these large-scale heads might represent the Achaemenid rulers of Cyprus; in any event the treatment of the hair is very reminiscent of Persian work of the period. Compare T. Spiteris The Art of Cyprus (London 1970) p.181 (for the features) and A. M.Nielsen Corpus of Cypriote Antiquities Vol.8 Cypriote Antiquities in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (Gothenburg 1983) no.43 (for the beard).
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Statuette of Aphrodite.
Marble.
Late Hellenistic, 2nd - Ist century B.C.
H.: 26 cm.

French private collection, acquired early 20th century.
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Egyptian bronze figure of a cat
Height 20 cm.
Dynasty 26-30, ca 664-343 BC

Ex Private English collection, 1950s early 1960s
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A TORSO OF GANYMEDE H. 81.3 cm. Marble. Roman. 2nd cent. A.D. This life-size figure of the Trojan prince Ganymede, beloved of Zeus and cup-bearer to the gods of Olympos, ultimately derives from a Hellenistic prototype. The youth stood in a relaxed pose, with his weight borne on a straight right leg, his left slightly flexed and set back with heel raised. A short cloak is draped about his upper body and fastened at the right shoulder. Traces of historical repairs. Collected in Italy in the 19th century by the Belgian engineer Léon de Somzée. Provenance: Formerly French priv. coll., acquired in 1907, and thence by descent. Previously Léon de Somzée (1837 -1901), 22 rue des Palais, Brussels. Publication: A. Furtwängler, Sammlung Somzée. Antike Kunstdenkmäler (Munich, 1897) 50, no. 74, illus. Collections de Somzée. Première partie. Monuments d'Art antique. Vente 24 May 1904, no. 74, illus. S. Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, vol. VI, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1913) 375, no. 4. C. Evers, "Collectors of Ancient Sculpture in Belgium in the 19th Century: Léon Somzée and Raoul Warocqué", Kölner Jb. 40 (2007) 25, fig. 2 (view of sculpture as installed in the "Grand Hall" of the Hôtel Somzée, Brussels, with torso of Ganymede at far right middle). N-
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Attic Red-figure Column Krater by the Villa Giulia Painter A nude satyr, running to the left with his arms outstretched, pursuing Amymone. As she flees to the left holding a hydria by one horizontal handle in her lowered left hand, she looks back at her pursuer. Reverse: standing draped youth holding a staff in his right hand. Ex H.Vollmoeller, Zurich, 1968; private collection, Geneva, Switzerland. Ca. 460 BC H. 15 1/8 in. (38.4 cm.) For other vases with Amymone and satyrs see nos. 12-15 in Simon, “Amymone,” in
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Late Hellenistic marble torso of an athlete c.2nd-1st century BC Height: 54 cm (62 cm on base) Inspired by the Discophoros of Polykleitos, the youthful figure with well-defined musculature, stands with his weight on his right leg, the left bent at the knee and slightly advanced. The left arm would originally have been pulled back. A strut preserved on the upper left thigh and a support originally on the lower right thigh. Literature: For comparable examples of athletes see S. Reinach, 'Repertoire de la Statuaire Greque et Romaine', Paris, 1897. p. 524- 527, particularly pl.862, no. 2195 Provenance: Private collection Boston, USA
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