The following thirteen lots (1-13) are from the collection of Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952), Bordeaux, France. Barrister at the Bordeaux bar and enthusiastic archaeologist, he published books on the Gallo-Roman period and participated to excavations. He also exchanged correspondence with the architect Albert Tournaire and Theodore Reinach, editor of the Revue des études grecques. |
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AN EGYPTIAN BLUE GLAZED COMPOSITION SHABTI
New Kingdom, Ramesside Period, circa 1295-1070 B.C.
Depicted with details added in black, holding two hoes, a yoke across the back, a column of text over the legs for 'the Royal scribe and chief steward, Hepy', 14cm high
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
£400-600
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AN EGYPTIAN GREEN GLAZED COMPOSITION SHABTI
Late Period, Saite, 26th Dynasty, circa 664-525 B.C.
The finely moulded mummiform figure wearing a striated tripartite wig and a plaited fake beard, holding an adze and a hoe, the seed bag hanging at the back of the right shoulder, inscribed with nine horizontal lines for 'Iahmes, son of Heret[...], Priest of Wadjet, Mistress of Imet', with an ink collection number on the base '30/6', 18cm high
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
Literature: The city of Imet is known with the modern name of Tell Nebesha, a site in the eastern Nile Delta. The site was excavated by Flinders Petrie in 1886 and it includes a temple dedicated to the goddess Wadjet.
£700-900
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AN EGYPTIAN PALE GREEN GLAZED COMPOSITION SHABTI
Late Period, circa 664-332 B.C.
With typical mummiform figure, inscribed with a column of text over the legs 'Well spoken by the Osiris, Pa(n)wsir, son of Horwennefer', 15cm high
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
£300-500
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AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE FIGURE OF HARPOKRATES
Late Period, circa 664-332 B.C.
The child god depicted seated, nude except for the headdress with uraeus and plaited Side-lock of Youth, with silver inlaid eyes, 12.5cm high
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
£800-1,200
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A CORINTHIAN POTTERY ALABASTRON
Circa 6th Century B.C.
Decorated in crimson and brown, with added incised details, depicting a winged panther with rosettes in the field, a rosette on the base, tongues and dots on the neck and rim, 17cm high
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
£400-600
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AN ATTIC RED-FIGURE KYLIX TONDO FRAGMENT
Circa 5th Century B.C.
On a flaring foot, the tondo decorated with details added in black and dark red slip, depicting a young athlete, running nude with a cape on his shoulders, holding a rope, the curly hair tied with a fillet, approx. 17.5cm long
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
£500-700
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THREE ATTIC BLACK-FIGURE VESSELS
Circa 5th Century B.C.
Including a lekythos decorated with a band of palmettes on the body and tongues on the shoulder, 16.5cm high; a cup decorated on both sides with a winged figure flanked by palmettes, both handles missing, and a band cup with a panther, handles and foot missing, 9cm-14cm diam (3)
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
£400-600
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A FRAGMENTARY ETRUSCAN BLACK-FIGURE STAMNOS
Circa early 5th Century A.D.
With details added in white slip, depicting on both sides a winged Hermes, wearing the typical winged sandals and holding a rope in each hand, facing a female figure wearing a chiton and himation, with palmettes in the field, rays above the foot and tongues below the rim, 28cm high
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
Literature: the iconography on this stamnos appears to be near the Group of Munich 883, ca. 500-470, cf. M. Martelli (ed.), La ceramica degli Etruschi. La Pittura vascolare, 1987, p. 180, fig. 133.
£400-600
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AN ETRUSCAN BRONZED IRON MEAT HOOK OR 'GRAFFIONE'
Circa 5th-4th Century B.C.
With five curved points and a round section for hafting, 21cm long
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
Literature: The purpose of 'graffioni' is still unclear although the majority of researchers believe they were utensils used to spit and roast meat. The name comes from the Italian word for 'scratch' as at the beginning of the Nineteen Century they were believed to be instruments of torture used against Christian martyrs, cf. F. Buranelli, The Etruscans, 1992, p.74, pl. 39.
£200-300
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TWO ETRUSCAN BRONZE ARTEFACTS
Circa 7th-4th Century B.C.
Including a large kyathos, with conical body, the applied over-arching handle with a swan's head and a dog's head at the top and a female head as the lower terminal, 23.5cm high; and a tinned bronze shield ornament, decorated with a circle of bosses along the border and two smaller circles around a cluster of smaller bosses, 24.5cm diam (2)
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
£400-600
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TWO ROMAN TERRACOTTA FIGURES OF APHRODITE
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
One depicted nude bringing her right arm to her breast, flanked by an Eros, 21.5cm high; the other holding drapery with both her hands, 18cm high (2)
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
£80-120
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FIVE CORINTHIAN-STYLE POTTERY VESSELS
Including an aryballos showing a siren and rosettes in the field, 8cm high; an alabastron with a siren in profile and a swan, rosettes in the field, 8cm high; three alabastra with a band of running hounds, 8cm-14cm high, Not Ancient (5)
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
£100-200
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FIFTEEN ROMAN AND ISLAMIC GLASS VESSELS
Circa 2nd-8th Century A.D.
Including a double balsamarium with twin handles and added trail decoration, 10.5cm high; twelve green and clear glass flasks and bottles, 10cm-13cm high; the foot of a larger vessel, 8cm diam; and a large Islamic flask with long funnel neck, 28cm high (15)
Provenance: Alexandre Nicolai (1865-1952) Collection, Bordeaux, France. Thence by descent.
£400-600
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AN ETRUSCAN BUCCHERO WARE OINOCHOE
Circa 6th Century B.C.
With trefoil lip, slightly squat round body and handle with round cross-section joining the flaring rim with two rotellae, decorated with incised bands on the body and neck, a band of tongues on the shoulder terminating with scrolls either side of the handle, 34.2cm high
Provenance: English deceased estate of a dentist, acquired in the 1990s.
£1,000-1,500
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A LARGE GREEK TERRACOTTA KORE
Archaic Period, circa late 7th-early 6th Century B.C.
With large almond-shaped eyes and serene archaic smile, wearing a long himation and a round polos over the curls framing the face, bringing a blossom to her breast in the right hand and holding the edge of her dress with the left, the bare feet emerging from below the skirt, over an integral round base, 54.5cm high
Provenance: Christie's, New York, 10 December 2004, lot 465. French private collection formed in the 1970s.
£6,000-8,000
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A CYPRIOT TERRACOTTA PILGRIM'S FLASK
Cypro-Geometric, circa 1050-900 B.C.
Of lentoid shape, flaring neck and opposing ear handles, decorated with black and red concentric bands over the body, 14.5cm high
Provenance: English private collection, London, purchased from a Cambridge antiques dealer before 2000.
£80-120
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FOUR ANCIENT TERRACOTTA VESSELS
Bronze Age to Roman Period, circa 3200 B.C. to 4th Century A.D.
Including a Holy Land jug with flaring rim decorated with red slip, Trans-Jordan circa 3200 B.C., 10cm high; an Iron Age pilgrim's flask, with remains of black concentric circles on the body, circa 1200 B.C., 14cm high; a Roman cup with ribbed body, 8cm high, and an oil lamp decorated with Artemis on the tondo holding a bow, 12cm long, circa 3rd-4th Century A.D. (4)
Provenance: English private collection, purchased from Vanessa Purcell, Manchester, in 1995. Accompanied by a copy of the invoice dated 29 April 1995.
£250-350
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A GROUP OF CLASSICAL TERRACOTTA VESSELS
Circa 5th Century-2nd Century B.C.
Including a South Italian black glazed exaleiptron and another plain example, 13cm-14.5cm diam; two Hellenistic oinochai, a mug with handle and a miniature lekythos, 5cm-19.5cm high; and a Greek-style lekythos with an Islamic-style vessel, Not Ancient, 31cm high (7)
Provenance: UK private collection, acquired on the London art market in the early 1990s.
£100-150
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A GREEK RED FIGURE SKYPHOS
Apulia, attributed to the Stoke-on-Trent Painter, circa 340-20 B.C.
Showing on both sides a profile female head, with her hair dressed in a kekryphalos and stephane, the details added in white and yellow slip, a palmette under each handle, ovolo at the rim, scrolling along the groundline, 21.5cm high
Provenance: UK private collection, Sussex, pre-late 1990s. With Helios Gallery.
Literature: A.D. Trendall & A. Cambitoglou, The Red-figured Vases of Apulia, Vol.I, Oxford, 1978, pls. 340-341.
£400-600
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A GROUP OF ROMAN AND ISLAMIC ARTEFACTS
Circa 2nd-8th Century A.D.
Including a Roman red slip ware bowl, 14cm diam; a Roman jug, 19.5cm high; a Roman bronze coin; a Byzantine oil lamp with a cross below the foot, 10cm long; and two early Islamic terracotta vessels, 5cm-18cm high (6)
Provenance: UK private collection, acquired in Bristol prior to 2000, thence by descent.
£200-300
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A HELLENISTIC SILVER GILT BOWL
Circa 3rd Century B.C.
The shallow hemispherical bowl set on a separately-cast raised foot, the central raised omphalos decorated with two incised circles at its base and two at the top, 18.5cm diam
Provenance: UK collection, London, acquired in the 1980s.
£300-400
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AN ETRUSCAN BRONZE MIRROR
Circa 4th-3rd Century B.C.
The slightly concave disc engraved with two draped female figures, with serrated border on the convex side, the handle with zoomorphic handle, 23cm long
Provenance: English private collection, formed before 1960.
£400-600
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A ROMAN BRONZE KEY HANDLE
Circa 2nd Century A.D.
In the form of a horse's head, of hollow naturalistic form, with pierced mouth, flaring nostrils, prominent eyes and raised mane, 4cm long
Provenance: American private collection, Midwest. Leo Mildenberg Collection, 1997.
£300-500
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A ROMAN SILVER INLAID BRONZE MEDICAL IMPLEMENT
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
With leaf-shaped blade, the rectangular shank finely decorated on either side with three silver inlaid ivy leaves within a frame of waves, 9cm long
Provenance: German private collection, Mr V.K., acquired prior to 2000.
£350-450
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SEVEN ROMAN BRONZE ARTEFACTS
Circa 2nd-3rd Century A.D.
Including four figurines of eagles, a small winged Eros, a draped figure, and a rectangular bread stamp, 3cm-10cm high (7)
Provenance: Dr Hans Peter Trimbacher Collection, Austria, acquired in the mid-1990s. Dr Trimbacher is the architect that restructured the castle of Burg Plankenstein in Lower Austria in the mid-1970s.
£300-500
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A ROMAN BRONZE VESSEL HANDLE
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
The terminal in the shape of a male bust, 12.5cm high
Provenance: English private collection, acquired on the London art market in the 2000s.
£80-120
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A ROMAN BONE DOLL
Circa 2nd-4th Century A.D.
Schematically carved nude, with elongated arms and legs, with high hairstyle detailed with hatching, 12cm high
Provenance: UK private collection, purchased in 2005. French private collection, acquired in Aix-en-Provence circa 1985.
£100-200
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A GRAND TOUR TERRACOTTA GROUP
Depicting a faun leading a mule, carrying on its back Pan and the young Dionysus, 20cm high
£200-300
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A GROUP OF ANTIQUITIES AUCTION CATALOGUES AND GALLERY CATALOGUES
Including sale catalogues of Christie's New York and London from 1983; Sotheby's New York and London from 1997; Bonhams London from 1996; other European sale catalogues including Cahn Auktionen AG and Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger; other assorted gallery catalogues mainly between the 1990s and 2010s and some other publications (122)
£100-200
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A GROUP OF SOTHEBY'S ANTIQUITIES AUCTION CATALOGUES
Including assorted Monaco, London and New York sale catalogues between 1964 and the early 2010s with single-owner collections such as The Constable-Maxwell Collection of Ancient Glass, London, 4 June 1979; Colletion de Martine, Comtesse de Behague, Monaco, 5 December 1987; The Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection and the William Herbert Hunt Collection, New York, 19 June 1990; The Breitbart Collection, New York, 20 June 1990; Antiquities from the Erlenmeyer Collection, London, 9 July 1990; The Ada Small Moore Collection of Ancient Near Eastern Seals, New York, 12 December 1990 (130)
£150-250
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A GROUP OF CHRISTIE'S ANTIQUITIES AUCTION CATALOGUES
Including assorted London and New York sale catalogues between 1971 and 2000 with single-owner collections such as A Private Collection of Egyptian Gold Jewellery, London, 1 June 1979; Ancient Glass from the Kofler-Truniger Collection, London, 5 March 1985; The Erlenmeyer Collection of Cretan Seals, London, 5 June 1989; The Erlenmeyer Collection of Ancient Near Eastern stamp seals and amulets, London, 6 June 1989; The Alfred Wolkenberg Collection of Ancient Glass, London, 9 July 1991; The Per-Neb Collection Part I, London, 9 December 1992 (80)
£100-200
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A GREEK ALABASTER ALABASTRON
Circa 6th Century B.C.
The elongated body tapering to the neck, with wide disc rim and small lug handles, with collection no. A7/68 written on the base, 24.5cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£1,500-2,000
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A GREEK RED-FIGURE BELL KRATER
Apulia, circa 4th Century B.C.
Showing on side (a) a female figure wearing a chiton, her hair tied in the saccos, holding a mirror and a trident, seating on a throne and facing a nude youth standing in front, holding a staff and grapes, with drapery over the left shoulder and wearing a wreath, and on side (b) two draped youths facing each other, one holding a staff, with a band of meanders as ground-line and a band of laurel below the rim, palmettes below the handles, 31.5cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£1,500-2,500
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AN ETRUSCAN TERRACOTTA VOTIVE MALE FIGURE
Circa 5th Century B.C.
Depicted nude, standing with one hand resting on the hip, the other arm raised and partially missing, wearing a wreath, with large almond-shaped eyes and archaic smile, 25cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£700-900
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A PROTO-CORINTHIAN TERRACOTTA OLPE
Circa 6th Century B.C.
Decorated with umber, light brown and black slip, with two bands of intersecting semi-circles and dots, and a band of tongues above, with wide flaring rim, 18.5cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£200-300
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A COPTIC TERRACOTTA JUG
Circa 4th-7th Century A.D.
Decorated with black and red slip forming an abstract landscape over parallel bands, the handle with a pinched terminal at the top, 19cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
Literature: for a similar jug made in the Kharga Oasis, Egypt, now in the Metropolitan Museum, cf. accession no. 25.10.20.238
£250-350
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A MESOPOTAMIAN CUNEIFORM TABLET
Late Akkadian, circa 2300 B.C.
Inscribed on both sides with eight columns of cuneiform, 9cm x 9cm
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£400-600
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A MESOPOTAMIAN CUNEIFORM TABLET
Late Akkadian, circa 2300 B.C.
Inscribed on both sides with seven columns of cuneiform, 9.5cm x 9.5cm
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£400-600
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TWO MESOPOTAMIAN CUNEIFORM FOUNDATION CONES
Circa 3rd Millennium B.C.
Both with convex head painted with black slip, inscribed across the body with columns of cuneiform script, 14cm-16cm long (2)
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£600-800
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A BACTRIAN BANDED ALABASTER RITUAL OBJECT
Circa late 3rd-early 2nd Millennium B.C.
Of typical waisted cylindrical shape, with a groove on each flat face, the natural banding of the stone forming abstract patterns in shades of pink, yellow and white, 22cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£1,500-2,000
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AN EGYPTIAN RED BURNISHED WARE JAR
Naqada II-III, circa 3200-3000 B.C.
Of ovoid form, with flat base and flaring neck, 25.5cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£500-700
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AN EGYPTIAN ALABASTER VESSEL
New Kingdom, circa 1550-1070 B.C.
The cylindrical body slightly tapering towards the flat base, with wide straight neck, 22cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£800-1,200
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A LARGE EGYPTIAN POLYCHROME WOOD SHABTI
New Kingdom, Ramesside Period, circa 1295-1070 B.C.
Wearing a tripartite wig and broad collar, with a column of inscription over the legs, 29cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£1,200-1,500
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AN EGYPTIAN POLYCHROME WOOD MASK
Ptolemaic to Roman Period, circa 2nd Century B.C.-1st Century A.D.
Possibly depicting a child, wearing a wig papyrus flowers over the forehead, the red/brownish face with added details of the eyebrows, lips and chin added in black, with blue glass inlays for the brows and blue glass eye-rims inset with white sclera and dark amber glass pupils, 24cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£3,000-5,000
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A LARGE EGYPTIAN POLYCHROME WOOD FIGURE
Middle Kingdom, circa 2133-1797 B.C.
Wearing a long tight-fitting white kilt and a short wig, with eyes and eyebrows added in black paint, 44cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£700-900
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AN EGYPTIAN WOOD SARCOPHAGUS MASK
Late Period, circa 664-332 B.C.
With remains of the top section of the tripartite wig and covered in a layer of white gesso, 20cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£400-600
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AN EGYPTIAN WOOD SARCOPHAGUS MASK FRAGMENT
Late Period, circa 664-332 B.C.
With almond-shaped eyes and serene eyes, the wig missing, with remains of a gesso layer, 16cm high
Provenance: Nikos Paschalis (1918-1948) Collection, Greece and Egypt, thence by descent through the sister, Assimina Paschalis, in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.
£400-600
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AN EGYPTIAN PREDYNASTIC TERRACOTTA JAR
Pre-dynastic Period, Naqada II, circa 3200 B.C.
Of squat form, the body decorated with red concentric circles, with pierced lug handles at the shoulder, one missing, 9.5cm high
Provenance: Richard and Donna Curtiss Collection, Washington, acquired in the 1960s and donated to the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University. Deaccessioned by the C. Carlos Museum in 2010. Accompanied by a copy of a letter from Peter Lacovara on behalf of the museum dated 15 June 2010.
£500-700
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