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SEVEN BRONZE AND HORN RINGS
Including six bronze examples with incised decoration, and another in horn with a zig zag motif, ring size 'R' to 'W' (7)
Provenance: Allan Course Collection, Sussex, formed in the 1990s and early 2000s, acquired on the UK art market.
£50-80
| The following seventeen lots (153-169) come from the Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s. Glaswegian microbiologist and well-respected academic, Marcus Brooke built his career as a researcher between Scotland, Denmark and the USA. In the 1960s he switched from science to photography and travel writing, and spent many years moving around Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. He took part in the excavation of Masada in Israel and wrote about the Falashas in Ethiopia. He edited several Insight Travel Guides including Glasgow, his home city.
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A SYRO-HITTITE TERRACOTTA IDOL
Circa 2000 B.C.
With elaborate pierced headdress and typical bird-like features, with stump-like arms, the breast and navel indicated by discs, wearing a necklace, 12cm high
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£200-300
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THREE AMLASH ZOOMORPHIC FIGURINES
Iran, circa 10th-8th Century B.C.
Including a bronze zebu bull with pronounced hump and suspension loop, 5.5cm long; and two terracotta hollow figurines, a bull and a bird with fan tail, both on three stump legs, 7.5cm and 8cm long (3)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£300-500
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FOUR LURISTAN BRONZE ARTEFACTS
Iran, circa 10th-7th Century B.C.
Including a bowl with ribbed body, 17cm diam; a hemispherical bowl with hammered rows of lozenges, 16.5cm diam; another bowl on ring foot, 14cm diam; and a dagger, the grip with inlays missing, 28cm long (4)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£200-300
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AN EGYPTIAN BLUE GLAZED COMPOSITION UDJAT EYE
Late Period, Circa 664-332 B.C.
Perforated for suspension, with details added in black, 6cm long
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£80-120
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A GROUP OF MEDITERRANEAN TERRACOTTA VESSELS
Circa 1st Millennium B.C. to Byzantine Period
Including a Mycenaean juglet with banded decoration, Mycenaean IIIB, circa 1375-1200 B.C.; an Italo-Geometric cup with carinated body, decorated with ladder designs, a feeder vessel with side loop and V decoration around the neck, circa 7th-6th Century B.C, and another feeder vessel and another coarse pottery feeder, 7cm-9cm high; two thin walled grey burnished vessels and a heavy coarse pottery vessel with spherical body; two Holy Land bottles, circa 1st-4th Century A.D., 12cm high; a Byzantine ampulla with a Saint riding, circa 6th Century A.D.; a Western Asiatic bowl; a columnar kernos with four pinched-in fillers; and a Hellenistic alabaster alabastron, the upper section restored, circa 6th Century A.D., 19.5cm high; and an After the Antique jug, Not Ancient, 10cm high (15)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£400-600
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TWO GREEK TERRACOTTA FIGURES
Circa 4th-3rd Century B.C.
A standing figure of a bearded man wearing a long tunic, 13.5cm high; and a Hellenistic female head, wearing a diadem, 8cm high (2)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£150-200
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A GROUP OF CLASSICAL TERRACOTTAS AND OTHER ARTEFACTS
Circa 4th B.C. to 2nd Century A.D.
Including seven Greek and Hellenistic female heads, 2cm-7cm high; and five male heads including a head of Silenus, 2cm-5.5cm high; two Roman vessel fragments, one in the shape of a bull's head and another as a bust of Aphrodite, 4cm-7cm long; a Roman bone doll, 16cm long; and two After the Antique figures, Not Ancient, 8.5cm-21.5cm high (17)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£300-500
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AN ATTIC WHITE-GROUND LEKYTHOS
Circa 5th Century B.C.
Decorated with a central band of ivy leaves and berries, a band of lattice work above and below, a band of meander below the shoulder and rays above, 19.5cm high
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£300-500
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THIRTY-FIVE ANCIENT TERRACOTTA OIL LAMPS
Late Bronze Age to Byzantine Period
Including a large Levantine late Bronze Age pinched oil lamp; an Egyptian round lamp; six Syro-Palestinian lamps with stump thumb-piece; a Hellenistic black glazed lamp with side thumb-piece; three round Hellenistic lamps and three miniature examples of the same type; a large Hellenistic lamp with ovolo around the tondo and four others in grey clay; four Roman lamps with loop thumb-piece and decorated tondos with an Eros pulling a goat, an urn with two doves and three theatre masks; six other Roman lamps; a Byzantine 'boot type' example; an Islamic Umayyad lamp; three Byzantine lamps, two moulded with crosses; 3.2cm-14cm long (35)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£200-300
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THIRTY-FOUR ANCIENT TERRACOTTA OIL LAMPS
Late Bronze Age to Byzantine Period
Including two Levantine late Bronze Age pinched oil lamps on ring foot; an Egyptian frog lamp; five Syro-Palestinian lamps with stump thumb-piece, one with a cross over the nozzle; six Hellenistic round plain lamps, one with remains of black glaze; a Hellenistic grey clay lamp with lateral pinched grips; five Roman examples with moulded tondos, decorated with a horse, an elephant, an Eros harvesting grapes and a male figure; a Roman example with palmette thumb-piece and seven other Classical types; a Roman top section of a mould; a Byzantine 'boot type' example; an Early Christian type with palm frond decoration and three other Byzantine types, one bearing a cross; 6cm-12.5cm (34)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£200-300
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A ROMAN TERRACOTTA HOLLOW-BACKED MASK
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
Possibly representing a new Comedy courtesan or Hetaira, with centrally-parted hair and wearing a forehead tassle, pierced at the top for suspension, 13cm high
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£300-500
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TWO ROMAN BRONZE MIRRORS
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
Both with high content of tin and polished reflective surface, one slightly convex decorated with incised intersecting arches, 9.5cm diam; the other flat with perforated border, one face with concentric circles, 9.5cm diam (2)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£200-300
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A GROUP OF MISCELLANEOUS CLASSICAL ARTEFACTS
Roman to Byzantine, circa 2nd-6th Century A.D.
Including a bronze round mirror with raised edge, decorated on the inside with concentric circles and a band of incised circles, with tinned exterior, 11cm diam; a small bronze amphora with applied handles, possibly Parthian, circa 11cm high; a Roman bronze attachment in the shape of an eagle, 5cm long; a small Roman bronze figure of Hermes, 7cm high; a pair of Roman gold sheet boat-shaped earrings, each 13mm long; a Byzantine square weight; two bronze coins; and an After the Antique bronze Eros, Not Ancient, 6.5cm high (9)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£250-350
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TEN ROMAN GLASS VESSELS
Circa 2nd-6th Century A.D.
Including a large pale blue rectangular bottle with applied handle, 20cm high; two green mould-blown glass sprinkler flasks with flaring rim, both mounted on stands, 8cm-9.5cm high; four green glass flasks, 11cm-17cm high; two miniature unguentaria, one dark blue and the other bright pale blue, 5.5cm-9cm high; and a late Roman hexagonal jar, 5cm high (10)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£300-500
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A YORUBA TWIN 'ERE IBEJI' MALE FIGURE, NIGERIA
With remains of black pigment on the high coiffure, wearing a necklace with large triangular pectoral and counterpoise, decorated with scarification marks, remains of camwood powder rubbed into the incisions, 28cm high
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£150-250
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A PAIR OF YORUBA TWIN 'ERE IBEJI' FIGURES, NIGERIA
Both female, with indigo blue paint over the coiffure and remains of camwood powder on the body, adorned with several necklaces of glass bead and coconut disc beads, with scarification marks over the cheeks, the abdomen and the back, both 24cm high (2)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£300-500
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TWO INDONESIAN WOOD CARVINGS
Representing a group of deities and an ithyphallic figure, 11cm-29cm high (2)
Provenance: Marcus Brooke (1923-2015) Collection, Glasgow, formed in the 1960s-1970s.
£40-60
| The Feliks Topolski Collection (1907-1989)
The following thirteen lots (170-182) come from the collection of Feliks Topolski.
Born in Warsaw and trained at the Warsaw Academy of Arts, Feliks Topolski left his country of origin very young and started travelling throughout Europe.
He first visited England in 1935, becoming a British Citizen in 1947. He was an official war artist for both the British Government and the Polish government-in-exile.
In this capacity he travelled the globe extensively, covering all battlefronts and sending his eye-witness drawings back by special courier to be published in British magazines such as Picture Post. After the war he did not lose his thirst for adventure and kept exploring the world, recording everything in his Topolski's Chronicles, a fortnightly independent publication, printed between 1953 and 1979.
'Histrionics at the expensive purchase of a head-hunter's weapon and the troublesome dispatch of it home. The London junk shops, full then-on my return-of exotic souvenirs costing next to nothing-overflowing with objects gathered by generations of colonials now reduced in circumstances and in space, sweated out on to the uncurious market. I concluded that my traveller's collection should be made only back in London.'
-Feliks Topolski- Fourteen Letters, London, 1988
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FELIKS TOPOLSKI (WARSAW 1907-LONDON 1989)
Nandi elder carrying kalabash
Pencil and black ink, inscribed along the bottom, 25.3cm x 34.6cm
Literature: the Nandi people are part of the Kalenjin ethnic group of Kenya, where Topolski travelled during WWII. For another study of a Nandi elder with Kalabash, cf. F. Topolski, 'Fourteen Letters', London, 1988.
£350-450
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AN EGYPTIAN WOOD SARCOPHAGUS MASK
Late Period, circa 664-332 B.C.
With remains of painted gesso, wearing a tripartite wig, with protruding eyes and serene smile, 35cm long
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
Topolski was in Cairo in 1944.
£600-800
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A BAMILEKE OR BAMUM HELMET MASK, CAMEROON GRASSFIELDS
With voluminous forms, large eyes and open mouth showing two rows of pointed teeth, both ears pierced, the coiffure arranged in two sections by a central band, 39cm high
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
Topolski visited West Africa in 1961-1962 travelling to Uganda, Congo, Nigeria and Ghana, cf. F. Topolski, 'Fourteen Letters', London, 1988.
£200-300
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AN ASHANTI WOOD STOOL, GHANA
The curved seat decorated on the side with carved geometric shapes, supported by X-shaped legs and central circle over a flat base with incised decoration, inscribed on the side with the letters 'E.H.R.', a cross carved on the underside of the base, 59cm x 44.5cm
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
Topolski visited west Africa in 1961-1962 travelling to Uganda, Congo, Nigeria and Ghana, cf. F. Topolski, 'Fourteen Letters', London, 1988.
£150-250
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A ZULU HIDE SHIELD AND HEADDRESS, SOUTH AFRICA
Made of cow hide, of oval form with interwoven strips across the front, the central pole now missing, approx. 110cm long; and a cow hide crown, approx. 23cm long (2)
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
Topolski visited Africa in 1944 travelling south along the Nile to Northern Tanzania, cf. F. Topolski, 'Fourteen Letters', London, 1988.
£150-250
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TWO BAGANDA HIDE 'NGOMA' DRUMS, UGANDA
Of typical conico-cylindrical shape, the body made from wood, the cow hide drumhead and drumbase strung together by twisted hide thongs, 25cm and 38cm high (2)
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
Topolski visited Africa in 1944 travelling south along the Nile to Northern Tanzania, cf. F. Topolski, 'Fourteen Letters', London, 1988.
£80-120
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A GROUP OF ETHNOGRAPHIC SPEARS AND A QUILT WITH ARROWS
Including a cane and wood spear, 100cm long, and a quiver with bamboo and iron arrows,61cm long, Papua New Guinea; and ten Zulu wood and iron spears, some with part of the wood shaft cut off, 63.5cm-137cm long (24)
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
£100-150
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A GROUP OF MISCELLANEOUS ETHNOGRAPHIC ITEMS
Including two Sidamo wood headrests, Ethiopia, 17cm-18cm high; four Zulu wood spoons, South Africa, with hook terminal for hanging, 30cm-45cm long; an east African leather collar with beads, mirrors and cowrie shells, 25cm long, and a small knife and a leather container; a Hadendoa dagger, Sudan, with H-shaped ebony hilt, with leather scabbard, 25.5cm long; an Ashanti bronze horse and rider figure, Ghana, 10cm high; and an adze with polished stone axehead, Papua New Guinea, 53cm long (12)
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
£150-250
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AN ELEMA 'EHARO' MASK, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Made from bark cloth and bamboo cane and other vegetable fibre, of typical 'hood' shape with large round eyes, beak-like gaping mouth and remains of white and black paint, 43.5cm high
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
Topolski visited the town of Sarawak in Malaysia in 1950 where it is possible that he collected this mask.
£200-300
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A WOOD CEREMONIAL PADDLE, SOLOMON ISLANDS
With crescent-shaped handle, the shaft flattening to a circular paddle decorated on both sides with polychrome and incised geometric motifs of intersecting circles, squares and a central four-petalled rosette, 104cm long
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
£100-200
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TWO WOOD MASKS
Including a Kongo mask, Democratic Republic of Congo, with naturalistic features and remains of white paint, 31cm long; and a Tibetan 'mahakala' mask, 23cm long (2)
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
£80-120
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A CONTINENTAL TIN GLAZED EARTHENWARE FLAGON
Circa late 19th Century
Possibly from the Iberian peninsula, in the shape of a coiled snake with anthropomorphic head, long pointed ears and grinning smile with a small round spout, approx. 29cm diam
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
£200-300
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A GROUP OF MISCELLANEOUS TRAVEL ACCESSORIES
Including a small glass and silver flask, a dimple glass bottle clad in snake skin, two African flasks, a Mappin & Webb glass and silver travelling kit, a canvass water bottle, two pipes, a framed print depicting Borneo hunters, and a colonial Indian horns and brass writing stand with two inkwells (10)
Provenance: Feliks Topolski (1907-1989) Collection, London, formed during WWII whilst working as an official war artist, and between 1953-1979 travelling the globe for the 'Topolski's Chronicles'.
£150-250
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A DOGON FEMALE FIGURE, MALI
Depicted standing, with typical hairdo, 46cm high
£80-120
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A DOGON FIGURE OF A COUPLE, MALI
Depicted standing, one hand on the companion's shoulder, with scarification marks over the body and face, 39cm high
£80-120
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A DOGON MINIATURE FIGURE, MALI
With typical stylised features, with protruding abdomen and square shoulders, 10cm high
Provenance: Prof Iain McDonald Collection, London.
£200-300
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A KURUMBA ANTELOPE HEADDRESS, BURKINA FASO
The stylised antelope head with long horns and ears, decorated with white, red and blue pigment, with cowrie shells adorning the mask section, 111cm high
Provenance: acquired by the owner in West Africa in the 1970s.
Literature: Antelope headdresses, or 'adone', are produced in the northern Kurumba region of Burkina Faso and they are related to the cult of ancestors.
£250-350
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A MOSSI FIGURE, BURKINA FASO
With elongated neck, stylised facial features and Mohawk, with typical 'ribbon'-like arms, 39cm high
£100-150
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A SAPI-GREBO 'NOMOLI' STONE FIGURE, SIERRA LEONE
Carved crouching with the hands resting over the feet, with typical protruding almond-shaped eyes and large nose, 23.5cm high
Provenance: acquired by the owner in West Africa in the 1970s.
£100-200
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TWO EWE 'VENAVI' DOLLS OF TWINS, GHANA OR TOGO
In light brown wood with the hair and shoes added with black paint, depicting a boy and a girl, each 20cm high (2)
Literature: just like the 'Ibeji' figures of the Yoruba, the Ewe dolls were carved as receptacles for the spirit of deceased new-born babies which the mother could care for during the bereavement period.
£80-120
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AN EWE 'VENAVI' DOLL OF FEMALE TWIN, GHANA OR TOGO
Dressed in a strip of red cloth, 20cm high
Literature: just like the 'Ibeji' figures of the Yoruba, the Ewe dolls were carved as receptacles for the spirit of deceased new-born babies which the mother could care for during the bereavement period.
£100-150
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AN ASHANTI 'AKUA BA' FERTILITY DOLL, GHANA
With typical stylised features, large disc head and short stump arms, 31cm high
Provenance: English private collection, acquired in the 1970s.
£100-200
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A BENIN BRONZE PLAQUE, NIGERIA
Showing a head with broad collar decorated with applied snakes and frogs, with suspension loop at the top of the headdress, 37cm high
Provenance: acquired by the owner in West Africa in the 1970s.
£100-150
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TWO BENIN BRONZE BIRDS, NIGERIA
A rooster and another bird with high crest and long plumage, 22cm and 24cm high (2)
Literature: In Benin the highest ranking wife of the Oba has the title of Eson, 'the rooster who crows loudest'. Rooster figures symbolise her role as a leader. Cf. B. Plankenstein, Benin, Milan, 2010, pl. 18.
£100-200
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A YORUBA RITUAL STAFF 'EDAN ASHUGBO', NIGERIA
The long iron spike surmounted by a bronze cylindrical terminal in the shape of a face with the 'ogboni' society mark tattooed on the forehead, a suspension loop above, 25cm high
Provenance: Prof Iain McDonald Collection, London.
£200-300
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A YORUBA 'OPON IFA' DIVINATION TRAY, NIGERIA
Round, the wide raised border carved with two mask faces of the god Eshu, flanked by geometric motifs, 30.5cm diam.
Provenance: Deceased estate of Anthony Jack, tribal art dealer in Portobello, London.
Literature: In the Yoruba religion the Ifa diviner, called Babalawo, uses the divination tray to interpret the message of Eshu, who is often represented on the border of such objects. The diviner throws kola nuts on a thin layer of sand placed at the centre of the tray and then interprets the marks left on the sand.
£200-300
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TWO YORUBA 'OPON IFA' DIVINATION TRAYS, NIGERIA
One of waisted oval shape with the face mask of Eshu carved on the raised border, 29.5cm long; and another of circular form with the stylised eyes and mouth of Eshu, the eyes with black inlaid pupils, 25.5cm diam (2)
Provenance: Deceased estate of Anthony Jack, tribal art dealer in Portobello, London.
£100-150
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FOUR AFRICAN ETHNOGRAPHIC ITEMS
Including an Ethiopian wood headrest, 19.5cm high; two wood and iron wool combs, 31.5cm-34cm long; and a Cameroon beaded hanging bird, 35cm high (4)
Provenance: Deceased estate of Anthony Jack, tribal art dealer in Portobello, London.
£100-150
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A SONGYE MALE 'KEFWEBE' MASK, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
With a high crest, slit eyes, rectangular projecting mouth and tufts of bristle sprouting from the nostrils, decorated with red, black and white stripes, 51cm high
Provenance: Allen Denton-Miller Collection, Ireland, formed in the second half of the 20th Century.
£200-300
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A SONGYE FEMALE 'KEFWEBE' MASK, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
With forehead-nose ridge, slit eyes and square mouth in black paint, decorated with geometric grooves filled with white clay, 40cm high
Provenance: Allen Denton-Miller Collection, Ireland, formed in the second half of the 20th Century.
£200-300
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THREE AFRICAN MASKS
Including a Songye 'kefwebe' female mask, Democratic Republic of Congo, 28cm high; a Punu 'ukuiy' mourning mask, Gabon, 37cm high; and a Yaure mask, Ivory Coast, 36cm high (3)
Provenance: Allen Denton-Miller Collection, Ireland, formed in the second half of the 20th Century.
£200-300
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A LUBA WOOD FEMALE CARYATID STOOL, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Seated on a circular base with open backswept legs, the prominent navel decorated with raised scarification marks, with conical breasts and stylised elongated head with large oval eyes and fleshy lips, the hair combed backwards, another scar decorating the forehead, depicted supporting the round seat with both hands, 36cm high
Provenance: Bonhams, London, The Gordon Reece Gallery sale, 2 October 2007, lot 431.
£1,200-1,500
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