2023 David Aaron

DAVID AARON

DAVID AARON

DAVID AARON

london | 2023

All items in this catalogue have been checked against the Art Loss Register and Interpol Database.

CONTENTS 6

SCULPTOR’S MODEL MASK

Egypt, 30th Dynasty–Early Ptolemaic Period, circa 380–246 b.c.

10

MUMMY MASK

Egypt, 22nd–24th Dynasty, 944–716 b.c.

14

MONUMENTAL HEAD OF KING NECTANEBO II Egypt, Reign of Nectanebo II, 30th Dynasty, 360–342 b.c.

22

IMPORTANT LIFE-SIZED CAT

Egypt, Ptolemaic Period, circa 332–30 b.c.

28

WOODEN ANUBIS

Egypt, Third Intermediate Period to Late Period, circa 751–414 b.c.

32

THE ‘DATTARI’ BABOON

Egypt, New Kingdom, circa 1200–1100 b.c.

38

HORUS

Egypt, Late Period to Ptolemaic, circa 600–200 b.c.

42

RAM-HEADED BRACELET

Achaemenid circa 5th–4th century b.c.

46

GOLD PLAQUE WITH STAGS Iran, Marlik, circa 7th century b.c.

50

AXE HEAD SURMOUNTED BY AN IBEX Iran, Luristan, circa 1200–900 b.c.

54

THE ‘GUENNOL’ RHINOCEROS Roman, Hadrianic Period, 76–138 a.d.

60

MOSAIC OF A UNICORN

Cyrenaica or Syria, early Christian, 5th–6th century a.d.

64

LUSTRE BOWL WITH AN IBEX Iraq, 10th century a.d.

68

FATIMID PEN BOX

Egypt or Syria, Fatimid, 10th–11th century 72

THE ‘BELLON’ VASE

Syria, Raqqa, 12th–13th century 76

ATTIC BLACK-FIGURE AMPHORA Athens, circa, 530–529 b.c.

80

GLASS VESSEL WITH GEOMETRIC DESIGN, DISCOVERED IN 1933 Gallo-Roman, circa 1–2nd century a.d.

84

THE ‘EVERLEIGH’ PHILOSOPHER Romano-British, circa 43–410 a.d.

88

STANDING GODDESS

Boeotia, Archaic Period, circa 625–550 b.c.

92

WOMAN CARRYING AN AMPHORA Cypro-Archaic, circa 7th century b.c.

96

PAIR OF STANDING FEMALE IDOLS

Possibly Iraq, Syria or Turkey, circa 7th millennium b.c.

100

FEMALE IDOL

Syro-Hittite, 2000–1500 b.c.

104

FEMALE IDOL

Syro-Hittite, 2000–1500 b.c.

108

MALE SHAMAN FIGURE

Caucasus, circa 12th–8th century b.c.

112

ROYAL PORTRAIT BUST

Iran, Sasanian circa 5th–7th century a.d.

116

VOTIVE HEAD OF A MAN

Yemen, circa 1st century b.c. – 1st century a.d.

120

VOTIVE HEAD OF A WOMAN

Yemen, circa 3rd century b.c. – 1st century a.d.

124

THE GODDESS NEITH

Egypt, 26th Dynasty, 664–525 b.c.

128

WOODEN SARCOPHAGUS OF KHAMHOR Egypt, 26th Dynasty, circa 664–525 b.c.

132

INSCRIBED COPTIC STELE FOR APA SIMOTHE Egypt, 8th–10th century a.d.

136

BACK PILLAR OF A STATUE WITH CARTOUCHE OF RAMSES II Egypt, 19th Dynasty, New Kingdom, 1279–1213 b.c.

140

QATABANIAN INSCRIPTION

Yemen, 1st century b.c. – 1st century a.d.

144

CUNEIFORM TABLET

Mesopotamia, Early Dynastic IIIa period, circa 2700–2500 b.c.

148

CAMPTOSAURUS SKELETON

Albany County, Wyoming, USA. Late Jurassic Period, circa 154 million years ago 152

EXTRAORDINARY PREHISTORIC BOREALOSUCHUS WILSONI Lincoln County, Wyoming, USA. Eocene, circa 55.8–48.6 million years ago

1

SCULPTOR’S MODEL MASK Egypt, 30th Dynasty–Early Ptolemaic Period, circa 380–246 b.c.

Plaster, h : 18 cm provenance With J. Khawam & Cie, Cairo, from at least 1963 Private Collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above in April 1963 (accompanied by 1963 Swiss inventory listing the mask as number 129) Thence by descent alr: S00224373 co nd itio n Intact as preserved. Tip of nose broken and missing. With a large, flaked chip to proper left eyebrow and forehead and to bottom half of face. Overall, with wear, minor pitting, scratches and chips. With sticker to back reading ‘68’. Small drill hole to back with metal peg for mounting.

Swiss inventory, 1963, listing the mask as no. 129, purchased in Egypt from Khawam.

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Interior of Khawam Brothers shop in Khan el-Khalili, Cairo, circa 1950.

Khawam Brothers business card.

Egyptian sculptor’s model cast in plaster, the typical material for such objects. With deeply hollowed eyes, cosmetic lines, and eyebrows; possibly once inlaid.

The nose and mouth are depicted in relief, with softly rounded cheeks and a slight smile.

n ot e on t h e provena n c e The Khawam family were a prominent family of dealers who were originally based in Cairo, before moving the gallery to Paris in 1977. Founded in 1862 by Sélim Khawam, a Christian Syrian jeweller who had settled in Egypt in 1860, it is today the oldest running Egyptian antiquities business. In 1912, after Egypt introduced laws to control the selling of antiquities, Joseph (1883– 1964), Jean (d.1918), Amin (d.1944) and Faragallah (d.1956) Khawam, the sons of Sélim, founded Khawam Brothers, being granted their license, License No. 7, by Gaston Maspero. They traded in Egyptian, Classical and Islamic antiquities and coins and sold important pieces to Western museums.

Several theories exist in relation to the original function of Egyptian plaster models, which primarily date from the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period. Some have hypothesised that the casts were used as teaching aids or guides for sculptors to create finer, larger sculptures in stone, but more likely is the idea that they were designed as votive objects, to be left as ritual offerings in temples and shrines.

In 1955 Roger Jean Khawam (1922–2016) took over the running of the business, running it until his retirement in 2005. He moved the gallery to Paris in 1977, opening as R. Khawam & Cie / Khepri Gallery.

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2

MUMMY MASK Egypt, 22nd–24th Dynasty, 944–716 b.c.

Wood, Pigment traces, h : 12 cm; w : 11.5 cm exh ibited Masterpiece, London, 27th June – 3rd July 2013.

BAAF Basel, 8th–11th November 2013. publis h ed Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art, Sotheby’s, London, 10-17th December 2020, Lot 58 (front cover). provenance With Merrin Gallery, New York, from at least the late 1970s / early 1980s.

P. N. collection, Geneva, acquired from the above in the late 1970s /early 1980s.

With Sycomore Ancient Art, Geneva, on consignment from the above in June 2013.

With Galerie Harmakhis, Brussels, acquired from the above 21st January 2014.

Private Collection of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani (inventory no. bell277), acquired from the above 2nd March 2015. alr: S00218905 co nd itio n With three benign vertical splits, one across the proper right cheekbone, one across the proper left cheek and corner of the mouth, and a deeper one running from top to bottom across the ends of the eyebrows and cosmetic line on the proper left temple and cheekbone.

Remains of a wood tenon in a circular hole below the chin, originally for attachment of the beard. Very minor nicks and scratches.

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This wooden funerary mask comes from the 22nd/ 24th Dynasty, during a time when Egypt was, once again, briefly separated into ‘Upper’ and ‘Lower’ territories.

The Upper was ruled by a series of Pharaohs who were ‘Meshwesh’, ancient Libyans from circa 943 BC until 716 BC, and the much smaller Lower Egypt was ruled

by Tutkheperre Shoshenq and his decedents until the unification in 713 BC by Tefnakht I. Created from a finely grained hard cedar wood, the well-proportioned mask has large eyes with remnants of decorative pigment. A long straight nose and lightly curved lips give the mask a calm, content appearance.

Although death masks were idealised, they were made to resemble the deceased. Generally, features were enlarged, the lips clearly delineated, full, and pursed together in a placid smile. Some masks also display the fashions of the time, with painted jewellery and makeup reflecting the period. The chief purpose of ancient Egyptian funerary rituals (including mummification) was to enable the individual to pass from earthly life to a new existence, in which he or she would possess the attributes of divine beings. The outward appearance of the transfigured dead would reflect their new, God-like status. For this reason, all images of the dead, whether mummy masks, anthropoid coffins, or free-standing statues, were idealized, representing the individual as eternally youthful and free from all physical disabilities or blemishes.

a representation of the owner making appropriate offerings to the gods of the underworld, principally Osiris. The British Museum has a similar wooden Egyptian coffin mask. Like ours it has been carved from a rich, dark hardwood with a naturalistic appearance and has lost its bronze and possible ivory inserts.

This mask once formed part of the lid of a mummiform coffin. The full sarcophagus would have been covered in gesso and brightly painted, usually with texts and vignettes from the Book of the Dead, often featuring

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3

MONUMENTAL HEAD OF KING NECTANEBO II Egypt, Reign of Nectanebo II, 30th Dynasty, 360–342 b.c.

Red Granite, h : 39.4 cm publis h ed A Copy of ye Book of Antiquities at Wilton, manuscript, circa 1730, 1st Division: Egyptian (British Library, MS. Stowe 1018).

Richard Cowdry, A Description of the Pictures, Statues, Busto’s, Basso-relievo’s, and other Curiosities at the Earl of Pembroke’s House at Wilton, London, 1751, p. 116.

Thomas Martyn, The English Connoisseur: Containing an Account of Whatever is Curious in Painting, Sculpture, &c, in the Palaces and Seats of the Nobility and Principal Gentry of England both in Town and Country, Dublin, 1766, vol. I, p. 192.

James Kennedy, A description of the Antiquities and Curiosities in Wilton House, Salisbury, 1769, pp. XXI and 108.

George Richardson, Aedes Pembrochianae: or a critical account of the statues, bustos, relievos, paintings, medals, and other curiosities and antiquities at Wilton House, London, 1774, p. 112 of 1798 edition.

John Wolcot, The Works of Peter Pindar, vol. II, London, 1812, p. 483.

S.H. Spiker, Travels through England, Wales & Scotland in the Year 1816, London, 1820, p. 150.

John Bull, Thomas Hood, and Charles Lamb, The Laughing Philosopher: Being the Entire Works of Momus, Jester of Olympus, London, 1825, p. 456.

Charles T. Newton, “Notes on the Sculptures at Wilton House,” in Memoirs Illustrative of the History and Antiquities of Wiltshire and the City of Salisbury, London, 1851, p. 260, no. 99.

James Smith and Walter F. Tiffin, Wilton and its Associations, Salisbury and London, 1851, p. 181, no. 99.

Adolf Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, Cambridge, 1882, p. 690, no. 99.

A. Blackwood, “Peter Pindar: A Famous Writer Neglected – The Man and his Work,” in The New York Times, October 7th, 1899, Saturday Review of Books and Arts, Page BR676.

James Parton, The Humorous Poetry of the English Language, from Chaucer to Saxe, Boston and New York, 1900, p. 225.

Nevile Rodwell Wilkinson, Wilton House Guide: A Handbook for Visitors, London, 1908, p. 15, no. 99.

Lewis Saul Benjamin and Lewis Melville, Some Eccentrics & a Woman, 1911, p. 118.

Christie’s, Wilton House, A Selected Portion of the Collection of Ancient Marbles formed by Thomas 8th Earl of Pembroke, July 3rd, 1961, no. 100, illus. between pp. 20 and 21.

“Sculptures to be auctioned...,” The Times, June 13th, 1961, p. 22, col. A, illus.

“Christie’s sell Lord Pembroke’s Marbles,” The Times, July 4th, 1961, p. 12, col. G. Jack Josephson, “Egyptian Royal Sculpture of the Late Period, 400–246 B.C.” in Deutsches Archäologisches Institut.

Abteilung Kairo. Sonderschrift 30, Mainz am Rhein, 1997, p. 26, pl. 9c.

Jaromir Malek, Diana Magee, and Elizabeth Miles, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs, and Paintings, vol. VIII, Oxford, 1999, p. 165, no. 800–872–500.

Jonathan Scott, The Pleasures of Antiquity: British Collectors of Greece and Rome, New Haven, 2003, fig. 205.

Tim Knox, “The Vyne Ramesses: ‘Egyptian Monstrosities’ in British Country House Collections,” Apollo, April 2003.

Antiquities, Christie’s, New York, 18th April 2018, Lot 60.

Peter Stewart, “A Catalogue of the Sculpture Collection at Wilton House”, 2020, Appendix 1, no. 39, p. 403.

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The head has been extensively published in various books, articles and catalogues from as early as 1751.

provenance “Some Italian gentlemen travelling to the Pyramids in Egypt, discovered it there, and brought it with them” (Kennedy, Op. cit., 1769, p. XXI).

Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, 1656–1733, Wilton House, Wiltshire.

Henry, 9th Earl of Pembroke, 1693–1749.

Henry, 10th Earl of Pembroke, 1734–1794.

George Augustus, 11th Earl of Pembroke, 1759–1827.

Robert Henry, 12th Earl of Pembroke, 1791–1862.

George Robert Charles, 13th Earl of Pembroke, 1850–1895.

Sidney, 14th Earl of Pembroke, 1853–1913.

Reginald, 15th Earl of Pembroke, 1880–1960.

Sidney Charles, 16th Earl of Pembroke, 1906–1969 Sold at Christie’s, Wilton House, A Selected Portion of the Collection of Ancient Marbles formed by Thomas 8th Earl of Pembroke, July 3rd, 1961, no. 100, illus. between pp. 20 and 21.

Mrs Roothoote, 1961, acquired from the above, ‘…for 650 gns.’

Private Collection UK. Sold at: Christie’s, London, December 10th, 1986, no. 186, illus.

Private Collection.

Sold at: Antiquities, Christie’s, New York, 12th April 2018, Lot 60.

Acquired from the above sale. alr: S00218854 co nd itio n Chin and minor chips on eyelids restored, nemes-headcloth preserved only above the ears, modern material over nose break probably conceals flat surface and dowel hole meant to receive formerly restored nose, minor chips and abrasions overall.

[ 17 ]

Pages from J. Smith and W.F. Tiffin, Wilton and its Associations, 1851. Adolf Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, 1882 and Christie’s Auction Catalogue, 1961.

A monumental head of Nectanebo II, last native ruler of Egypt prior to the Achaemenid conquest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Carved from highly variegated red granite and of impressive size, it would have once stood as part of a full statue of the king, who is depicted wearing a striped Nemes-headdress once fronted by a now-missing uraeus cobra. The modelling of the face and the treatment of the eyes, nose and lips bear the stylistic hallmarks associated with Royal sculpture of the 30th Dynasty, features which continue into the early Ptolemaic Period.

modelling of the eyes, the spread of the nose, and the deeply-drilled corners of the mouth, with its slight smile.

Once owned by Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, this head was kept in his Salisbury home, Wilton House, from around the late 17th century. He wrongly identified the head as ‘Sesostris’ and displayed it in the Stone Hall, together with a portrait of ‘Domitian’, and the supposed likenesses of several Roman empresses or female members of the Imperial family. In the circa 1730 manuscript entitled “A Copy of ye Book of Antiquities at Wilton” it is described as “Sesostris; The Head is of red Egyptian Granite; The Bust Part is of the white Egyptian Granite of the very old Termini manner; The Head is adorn’d with a Tiara peculiar from any other, as Egyptian; and it has a peculiar Liveliness from any other Sculpture – it was found amongst the Pyramids.”

In Cowdry’s 1751 description of Wilton’s art collections the head is mentioned as being located in the Stone Hall on a bust made of “white Egyptian granite” itself resting “upon a very antient altar of Bacchus” [sic]; this cylindrical Neo-Attic marble altar with Dionysiac relief decoration is still at Wilton (inv. no. 1963,10) and is now located in the Cloisters, where Michaelis already saw it in 1873 and 1877 (op. cit., p. 672, no. 1).

Since there are very few firmly dated portraits of Nectanebo I and II, the issue of identification is difficult, but some conclusions are possible. A comparison might be made with the head now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, attributed to Nectanebo II, (accession no.

2000.637 and op. cit., pl. 10c), which features sensitive modelling of the face. As in the case with our head, the eyes are delicately rendered, and the eyebrows are naturalistic and do not feature plastic outlines. A particularly important comparison is the quartzite portrait in the University of Pennsylvania Museum (accession no. E14303, op. cit., pl. 10a), also ascribed to Nectanebo II. Here we see many similar features, including the shape of the eyebrows, the tilt and

[ 18 ]

From top left: Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke (1654–1732); Henry Herbert, 9th Earl (1693–1749); Henry Herbert, 10th Earl (1734–1794); George Augustus, 11th Earl (1759–1827); Robert Henry, 12th Earl (1791–1862); George Robert, 13th Earl (1850–1895); Sidney, 14th Earl (1853–1913); Reginald, 15th Earl (1880–1960); Sidney Charles, 16th Earl of Pembroke (1906–1969).

In Kennedy’s 1769 description the same bust is said to be still in the Stone Hall but resting on a Roman marble sarcophagus with a portrait medallion in front (Michaelis, op. cit., p. 702, no. 143). He describes it as “as great a rarity, as is anywhere to be found.”

catalogue plate). When Michaelis visited Wilton, the head had already been moved to the Cloisters at Wilton with most of the other antiquities.

An early 19th century poem, which satirizes King George III’s visit to Wilton House, mentions the head as the object of a comical misunderstanding:

In 1816 Spiker saw the head displayed on yet another type of support: “A colossal head of Sesostris, in the style of the Egyptian idols, the pedestal highly singular, in the form of a right angled triangle” (probably the marble pedestal of triangular section partially illustrated in the 1961 sale

This head then passed down the lineage of the Earl and remained at Wilton House until the mid-20th century.

[ 20 ]

Wilton House, Seat of the Earl of Pembroke.

n ote on the p rovenance

engraved pieces with inscriptions in poor Latin and ‘sometimes in extremely questionable Greek’ (Michaelis 1882, 46). When studying the pieces in the collection, Adolf Michaelis mentioned the extreme level of errors the Earl made in his attributions.

Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, 1656–1733, was an English statesmen and Member of Parliament. His main residence was Wilton House near Salisbury, which was renowned for its impressive collection of Antiquities and ancient classical marbles. Most notably the ‘Arundel Marbles’, which had been collected by previous owners of the grand house. During his time at Wilton, Thomas Herbert made it his mission to identify and catalogue the whole collection, but often miss-attributed and

The head remained in the collection at Wilton House and was passed down by descent over eight generations of Earls, until Sidney Charles the 16th Earl of Pembroke (1906–1969) who sold it in an estate sale in 1961.

[ 21 ]

4

IMPORTANT LIFE-SIZED CAT Egypt, Ptolemaic Period, circa 332–30 b.c.

Bronze, lapis-lazuli, h : 37.3 cm provenance In a distinguished Private Collection, Alexandria, Egypt, from at least the 1920s With photographs of the cat in the family villa taken around 1925.

Thence by continuous descent within the family. co nd itio n In excellent condition, with minor clay residues left on the interior from casting in antiquity. The interior has also been consolidated with clear acrylic. The bronze surface has a fine green-blue patina. There are minor infills on the right shoulder and tip of the left ear.

Cat on display in the house in Alexandria 1925.

[ 22 ]

Egyptian bronze cat, Christies, 6th June 2013, sold for $2,027,750 (lot 682).

The Geyer Anderson Cat, 34 cm, British Museum, acc no. EA64391.

The cat is life-sized and hollow cast, and elegantly proportioned with naturalistic details. It is depicted seated with forepaws together, with the long tail curving forward around the proper right side. The head features alert erect ears, and recessed almond-shaped eyes with blue lapis lazuli inlays defining the rims. The remains of an incised broad collar are visible on the back of the neck, with a rectangular tenon below.

The cat was held in high importance in Egypt.

Domesticated in the Middle Kingdom, from the Late Period onwards they had become sacred to the goddess Bastet, one of the major gods in the ancient Egyptian pantheon and goddess of protection, pleasure, and the bringer of good health, the benign counter-point to her fierce sister, the lioness goddess Sekhmet. Her major cult centre was at Bubastis in the eastern Delta, and the remains of thousands of mummified cats have been discovered both there and at another of her major sites at Saqqara. These cats were often preserved in wooden or bronze coffins, or in more elaborate hollow bronze statues, such as this one. They were then given as offerings or used as focal points for worship.

A remarkable example of the type, exceptionally cast.

The life-sized scale is unusual and adds to the object’s importance, as most surviving bronze cats of this period are smaller. The body is carefully and realistically rendered, giving a sense of the artist’s understanding of the cat’s physiognomy.

This museum-quality artwork has been held by the same family for almost 100 years, and photographs dating from circa 1925 show the object displayed amongst the family’s other treasures, mounted on the same wooden mount as today.

The survival of the lapis lazuli inlays around the eyes is exceedingly rare. A similarly modelled cat in the Louvre, Paris, though a little smaller in scale, retains blue inlays around the eyes but they are of glass, not lapis lazuli.

[ 24 ]

[ 26 ]

5

WOODEN ANUBIS Egypt, Third Intermediate Period to Late Period, circa 751–414 b.c.

Wood, stucco, paint traces, h : 24.8 cm; l : 90 cm provenance Previously in the Private Collection of Mr F. L, Wimbledon, from at least 1946 (accompanied by old collection notebook dated 08.10.46 where this Anubis is photographed).

Thence by descent to his nephew in France (accompanied by French cultural passport 229476 and photographs of the object in the nephew’s home). alr: S00218932 co nd itio n In excellent stable condition, the surface coating of original pigment has suffered minor losses and localised networks of fine cracks are present. There are areas of damage in form of abrasions, small dents and scratches present on the surface as to be expected.

Some surface loss has had historical restorations. The tail has been attached to the main body from a separate piece and movement is present between the tail and body. There are deep expansion cracks horizontally across the body. A crack is also present between the neck and body where pieces were joined during manufacturing. The tips of the ears are damaged as are areas on both front legs.

Accompanied by a carbon analysis certificate (c 244363a) dated to an interval between 751–414 b.c.

Notebook titled ‘My Collection’ containing photos of Mr F. L’s collection, gifted to him by his friend ‘R. B’ in 1946.

“To enable you to take your treasures on your journey. I compiled – with your help and patience! – this little album. 8.10.46. R.B.”

A statue of the Egyptian god Anubis in the form of a recumbent jackal with pricked-up ears. Formed from once stuccoed wood, painted black, its body and muzzle finely carved, with a curving belly and alert snout, its paws and fore and hind quarters carefully delineated. The tail extending straight behind.

Recumbent statues such as this one were commonly found near burial sites and may have been designed to rest on the sarcophagus, guarding the dead. The most famous of these guardian Anubis’ was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun, the Anubis Shrine (now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo). The shrine was found at the entrance to the Treasury, which held the most sacred of the grave goods and the body of the Pharoah.

Mounted on a palanquin, the 3-foot long statue faced towards the west, the direction of the Egyptian afterlife, and in front of the shrine was a brick inscribed with a magic formula which read: “It is I who hinder the sand from choking the secret chamber, and who repel that one who would repel him with the desert flame.

I have set aflame the desert, I have caused the path to be mistaken. I am for the protection of the deceased”, enforcing Anubis’ role as guardian of the tomb.

The funerary god Anubis, who was represented either as a man with the head of a jackal or as a jackal, was associated with death and the embalming process.

His association with the jackal may have begun due to jackals living on the desert’s edge, where cemeteries were often located. The black paint, the symbolic colour of Anubis, represents both death and decay, and the Nile mud and therefore regeneration – an important distinction given that the Egyptians understood life in terms of cycles.

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6

THE ‘DATTARI’ BABOON Egypt, New Kingdom, circa 1200–1100 b.c.

Steatite, h : 12 cm exh ibited Gott und Götter im Alten Ägypten, Sammlung Resandro, Berlin/Munich/Hamburg, 1992 to 1993. publis h ed Jean P. Lambris Athenes & Giovanni Dattari, Le Caire Hotel Drouot, 1912, 17.–19.6.1912, Nr. 304, Pl. 30.

M. H. Sevadjian Collection, Hotel Drouot, 1932, 13.–14.4.1932. Lot 2, pl.1 The Ernest Brummer Collection, Ancient Art, 1979, Volume II, 16.–19.10.1979, Nr. 517.

Philipp von Zabern, Schoske & Wildung, ‘Entdeckungen, Ägyptische Kunst in Süddeutschland’, 1985, no. 61, p. 82, pl. 80, illus.

Schoske and Wildung‚ ‘Gott und Götter im Alten Ägypten’, 1992, p. 18, illus. provenance With Giovanni Dattari (1853–1923), Cairo, from at least 1912.

With Mihran. H. Sevadjian (b.1884), Paris, until 1932.

Private Collection of Mr William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951), New York and California, from 1932-1940.

With Ernest Brummer (1891–1964), New York, purchased 27th August 1940, until 1979.

The Resandro Collection, Germany.

New York Art Market, 2018.

Private Collection of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani (inventory number BELC1037), acquired from the above in 25th August 2018. alr: S00218906 co nd itio n In excellent condition. The integral base has been broken in antiquity, as shown by the weathered break edge.

A large drill hole is present on the top of the head and a possible attachment now missing.

Pages from Collections de feu Jean P. Lambris Athenes and Giovanni Dattari, 1912 and Gott und Götter im Alten Ägypten, 1992.

[ 32 ]

The original intention of this statue is unknown, however, it most probably provided apotropaic qualities to the owner, offering protection in their everyday life.

The image of Thoth has been found on grave markers, wall carvings, papyrus scrolls and in statue form as seen here. Examples have been found in funerary contexts along with mummified baboons suggesting that he was intended to accompany the deceased into the afterlife. n ot e on t h e provena n c e Giovanni Dattari (1853–1923) was an Italian antique dealer and numismatist. After the death of his father Dattari’s family moved to Cairo, Egypt in 1875. Between 1891 and 1903, Dattari collected over 25,000 ancient coins. In 1920 he donated large parts of his collection to the Museo Nazionale Romano. After his death, the remainder of the collection went on sale. He had a studio in Cairo, located in the villa where the Dattari’s family lived, it was a meeting place for archaeologists, Egyptologists and numismatists from all over the world. Giovanni Dattari collaborated in the formation of the Alexandrian coin collections of the Oxford, Ann Arbor and Toronto museums.

Works of Egyptian sculpture from the 1912 Dattari sale now in public collections include the “Dattari Statue,” a 30th-Dynasty black diorite figure of man in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, inv. no. 52.89 (lot no. 291, pls. XXVII–XXVIII; B.v. Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, Brooklyn, 1960, no.

80), a Late Period grey-green schist bust of a man in the Walters Art Museum, inv. 22.398 (lot no. 293, pl.

XXXII; Bothmer, op. cit., no. 18), and a 30th-Dynasty basalt head of a woman in the Roemer- und PelizaeusMuseum, inv. no. 5888 (lot no. 306, pl. XXXII; A. Eggebrecht, ed., Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim. Die ägyptische Sammlung, 1993, p. 89, fig. 86).

Pages from collections of M. H. Sevadjian Collection, 1932, and The Ernest Brummer Collection, 1979.

This is most likely a representation of the Ancient Egyptian god Thoth, who was a lunar deity and the protector of writers, accountants and all things intellectual, usually appearing in baboon form although he was also associated with the Ibis bird.

His image sometimes combined these animal features with those of a human, however here he appears as the baboon fully incarnate.

William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951) was born in San Francisco, California, as the only child of George and Phoebe Hearst. His father, a wealthy man as a result of relentless work and creativity in his various mining

[ 34 ]

interests, allowed young William the opportunity to see and experience the world as few do.

the International Studio Arts Corporation (ISAC) as a wholly-owned subsidiary of his holdings. Hearst began selling some of his art collection in the mid 1930’s to help relieve the debt burden he had suffered from the Great Depression.

Hearst had an interest in politics which led him to election into the United States House of Representatives as a Congressman from New York in 1902. After reelection in 1904, he unsuccessfully pursued the New York Governorship in 1906.

It is believed that the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane (1941) is loosely based on Hearst. He was enraged at the idea of Citizen Kane being a thinly disguised and very unflattering portrait of him, and used his massive influence and resources to prevent the film from being released—all without even having seen it. Welles and the studio RKO Pictures resisted the pressure, but Hearst and his Hollywood friends ultimately succeeded in pressuring theatre chains to limit showings of Citizen Kane, resulting in only moderate box-office numbers and at the time seriously impairing Welles’s career prospects.

In the 1920s he started one of the first print-media companies to enter radio broadcasting. Becoming a major producer of movie newsreels with his company ‘Hearst Metrotone News’, and is widely credited with creating the comic strip syndication business. His ‘King Features’ syndicate is today the largest distributor of comics and text features in the world. In his career, William Hearst produced over 100 films including, “The Perils of Pauline,” “The Exploits of Elaine” and “The Mysteries of Myra.” In the 1940s he was an early pioneer of television.

Born in Hungary, Ernest Brummer (1891–1964) moved to Paris to study art history at Sorbonne and the Ecole du Louvre, where he studied with Salomon Reinach, who had recently been appointed director of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales. Later, with his brothers, Joseph (1883–1947) and Imre (1895–1928) he opened an antiquities shop.

In addition to his brilliant business endeavours, Hearst amassed a vast and impressive art collection that included American and European Old Master paintings and sculptures, tapestries, oriental rugs, Greek, Roman and Egyptian antiquities, silver, furniture and historic ceilings. As the inventory grew, he purchased a fivestory warehouse in the Bronx for storage and he formed

Giovanni Dattari (1853–1923) in his studio in Villa Maricca.

William Randolph Hearst poster.

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Citizen Kane.

Ernest Brummer (1891–1964).

Ernest Brummer (1891–1964).

The front of the Brummer Gallery, New York.

The interior of the Brummer Gallery, New York.

Brummer Archive card (back).

Brummer Archive card (front).

Ernest remained in Paris after Joseph and Imre left for the United States in 1914 at the beginning of the First World War. The gallery would remain at 3, boulevard Raspail until the early 1920s, when Ernest would relocate it to 36, rue de Miromesnil, after Ernest and Joseph had a falling out. After the war, Joseph opened a second shop at 203 bis, boulevard Saint Germain. The

brothers were reconciled by 1924 and participated in a transatlantic partnership until Joseph’s death in 1947.

After joining the business in Paris, Ernest travelled extensively throughout Europe to acquire works of art for the gallery. The Brummers dealt initially in African tribal arts before branching out into ancient, medieval, contemporary French, and pre-Columbian art.

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7

HORUS Egypt, Late Period to Ptolemaic, circa 600–200 b.c.

Bronze, h : 19.5 cm; w : 5 cm; d : 12 cm provenance Previously in the Private Collection of Mr. John Nichols, USA (accompanied by appraisal document by Cornish Galleries, New Hampshire, dated 7th September 1964).

With Darrell Atchinson of Phoenix, AZ. Thence by descent. alr: S00218933 co nd itio n With shallow surface pitting throughout the entire surface, as expected with age and wear. The bronze is covered with a fine dark red patina and a protective wax or lacquer. The lower legs are new and the piece sounds to have loose metal inside, likely from the time of manufacture. Mounted on an old collection marble base.

Appraisal by Cornish Galleries, 7th September 1964.

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Bronze Horus in the form of a falcon, wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, fronted with a Uraeus cobra. On the chest are incised decorations suggesting an Usekh collar. The feathers of the body and wing are carefully incised. With rounded-lidded eyes and a short hooked beak.

Horus, the son of the goddess Isis and the god Osiris, was one of the most important gods in the Egyptian pantheon. His battle to regain his throne from his

uncle Seth, who had killed his father Osiris, was viewed as symbolic of the pharaoh’s vanquishing of Egypt’s enemies, and he was seen as the uniter of the Two Kingdoms of Egypt and the maintainer of order. This made him a representation of the concept of balance which was highly valued by the Egyptians. As such, he was highly associated with kingship and the pharaoh came to be viewed as a representation of Horus on earth. He was often depicted as a falcon or a man with a falcon’s head.

8

RAM-HEADED BRACELET Achaemenid circa 5th–4th century b.c.

Gold, l : 10.7 cm provenance With K. Rabenou Gallery, New York, acquired by 1966 (accompanied by an inventory list of remaining stock made after the closure of the gallery in 1970).

Thence by descent to his daughter Yris Rabenou Solomon (1935–2021), New York, acquired 1970/71.

Thence by descent, New York alr: S00221740 co nd itio n Intact as preserved; one terminal somewhat flattened, the other with some small cracks along the horns; both halves with some dents along their lengths, as visible in the illustration; some incrustations around the granulation and terminals; not wearable.

Rabenou Inventory List, circa 1970–71

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Consisting of two hollow tubes, one inserted into the other and then pinned in place. The join is covered with a band decorated by opposing granulated triangles which give a zig-zag effect. The bracelet ends terminate in highly decorative ram’s heads, with ridged, underslung horns, raised lidded eyes and collars decorated with the same pattern as the band at the join.

n ot e on t h e provena n c e Khalil Rabenou (1905–1961) was a Paris and New York-based Iranian antiquities dealer, part of a renowned family of dealers which included his uncle Dr. Benjamin Mahboubian, a noted archaeologist and expert on Persian art, Ayoub Rabenou, a dealer who owned prominent galleries dealing in antiquities in Tehran and Paris.

The Achaemenids were famous for their goldwork; the Greek historian Herodotus wrote that Achaemenid soldiers ‘glittered all over with gold, vast quantities of which they wore about their person’ and Persepolis alone is said to have contained 2,500 tonnes of it.

Bracelets and armlets with zoomorphic terminals were popular, and numerous examples were found amongst the famed Oxus treasure, now held in the British Museum.

After the death of Khalil Rabenou in 1961, his wife Elsa and son Parviz took over the running of the gallery, which eventually closed in 1970, when the remaining stock was dispersed amongst members of the family.

The K. Rabenou Gallery was known to have sold various artefacts to the British Museum between 1963 and 1968.

A “Mr & Mrs Rabenou” are also listed as having sold a number of antiquities to the Metropolitan Museum.

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9

GOLD PLAQUE WITH STAGS Iran, Marlik, circa 7th century b.c.

Gold, l : 27 cm provenance With K. Rabenou Gallery, New York, acquired certainly by 1970, possibly by 1966 (accompanied by an inventory list of remaining stock made after the closure of the gallery in 1970).

Thence by descent to his daughter, Yris Rabenou Solomon (1935–2021), New York, acquired 1970/71.

Thence by descent, New York. alr: S00227439 co nd itio n In excellent condition, repaired break at the centre. Creasing and very minor tarnish as expected with age.

Rabenou Inventory List, circa 1970–71

A gold Marlik cup with similar detailing can be found in the Guennol Collection, The Guennol Collection, Vol 1, 1975, p72-75

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A long, ornamental plaque formed from a hammered sheet of gold, decorated with a frieze of stags depicted as if walking left to the right. The decorative elements have been created in repousse, with small perforations along the edge, most likely for attachment to leather or cloth.

It is thought to be part of the famed Ziwiye Treasure hoard, found in the ancient citadel of Ziwiye in Kurdestan, east of Saqqiz in Northwestern Iran in 1947, parts of which are held in many major museums. The treasure contained objects from different cultures,

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n ot e on t h e provena n c e Khalil Rabenou (1905–1961) was a Paris and New Yorkbased Iranian antiquities dealer. For more information please see item 8.

including Assyrian, Scythian, proto-Achaemenid, and provincial pieces, illustrating the situation of the citadel on the Iranian plateau, at a crossroad of many trading routes.

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10

AXE HEAD SURMOUNTED BY AN IBEX Iran, Luristan, circa 1200–900 b.c.

Bronze, l : 25.4 cm exh ibited St. Petersburg, FL, Museum of Fine Arts, Art of Persia, 4th December 1966 – 29th January 1967. publis h ed C. Benbrow, “The Art of the Persians at the Museum of Fine Arts,” St. Petersburg Times, 18th December 1966, Leisure and the Arts section, p. 3. provenance With K. Rabenou Gallery, New York, acquired by 1966 (accompanied by an inventory list dated circa 1970–71 of remaining stock made after the closure of the gallery in 1970).

Yris Rabenou Solomon (1935–2021) Collection, New York, acquired 1970/71.

Thence by descent, New York. alr: S00227439 co nd itio n Intact. With some casting flaws at the join of the rear left foot of the ibex to the blade. With overall surface wear and pitting.

Loan document, circa 1966

Rabenou Inventory List, circa 1970–71

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C. Benbrow, The Art of the Persians at the Museum of Fine Arts, 18th December 1966

A ceremonial axe-head from Luristan in western Iran.

The rear terminates in four spikes, curved on the underside and coming to a point. Standing on the top is a three-dimensional statuette of an ibex, the wild goat found throughout West Asia and was so often represented in the region’s art.

are amongst the most commonly found Luristan arms.

The blade is usually curved with the cutting edge at an oblique angle, in extreme examples even at a right angle to the handle of the axe. Here the cutting edge is clearly blunt, with a decorative ridge emphasising its shape and reinforcing its ceremonial function.

In ancient times nomadic populations, such as the Medes, the Kassites and eventually the Persians, settled in the area. Due to the nomadic nature of the tribes’, their weapons and cast bronzes were required to be light and portable. Spiked axes such as this one

n ot e on t h e provena n c e Khalil Rabenou (1905–1961) was a Paris and New Yorkbased Iranian antiquities dealer, for more information see entry 8.

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11

THE ‘GUENNOL’ RHINOCEROS Roman, Hadrianic Period, 76–138 a.d.

Black Marble, l : 26 cm exh ibited ‘Pagan and Christian Egypt from the First to the Tenth Century A.D.’, January–March 1941, Brooklyn Museum, New York.

Brooklyn Museum since 1951.

‘The Guennol Collection’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969–1970. Loan Number: SL.69.82.39. publis h ed The Notable Art Collection Belonging to the Estate of the Late Joseph Brummer Part I, Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., New York, April 20, 21, 22 & 23, 1949, Lot 33.

The Guennol Collection of Mr & Mrs Alastair B. Martin, Exhibition Catalogue, Metropolitan Museum, 6th November 1969 – 4th January 1970, No. 49.

The Guennol Collection, Volume I, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975, pp. 41–45. provenance Reputedly in the Private Collection of Mr Bernard d’Hendecourt, 7 Rue Bayard, Paris, prior to 15th December 1928.

With M. and R. Stora, Paris and New York, from at least 1936.

Private Collection of Joseph Brummer (1883–1947), acquired from the above 8th December 1936 (inventory number N4014).

Sold at: The Notable Art Collection Belonging to the Estate of the Late Joseph Brummer Part I, Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc, New York, April 20, 21, 22 & 23, 1949, Lot 33.

The ‘Guennol’ Collection, from 1949 With The Merrin Gallery, New York.

Private Collection of Sheikh Saud bin Muhammed Al Thani (1966–2014), acquired from the above, 23rd April 2009.

Thence by descent.

ALR: S00156336 co nd itio n Intact fragment, the torso is complete without any form of mending or restoration. The limbs and part of the head are missing along natural breaks. The upper left side of the face survives, missing the right side, horn, and lower left.

Superficial scratches and weathering as expected throughout the surface.

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A display cabinet belonging to Joseph Brummer photographed, 1948. Selected pages from the Joseph Brummer Collection, 1949. Front cover of ‘The Guennol Collection’ exhibition catalogue, 1969-1970 and selected pages from The Guennol Collection, Volume I, 1975.

An extraordinarily fine carving of a male Indian rhinoceros in dense black marble. It is fragmentary, broken at the muzzle and missing its lower legs. The ears and right side of the face are lost, leaving only the left eye preserved, deeply incised and staring. Any evidence of a horn has been lost with the asymmetric break of the snout. The carving emphasises the large volumes of the mammal with a gentle nuchal hump above the lowered short neck. The heavy flesh is gathered into four distinctive and pronounced concentric rings of folds articulating the compressed neck (three behind the stumps of the ears and one in front) that is dropped from the shoulder. Sharp vertical flesh folds delineate the contours of the fore and rear legs from the top of the shoulders and rump. These meet another horizontal skirting flesh fold along the base of the body.

The sculptor has focused their efforts on the telling contours and gently swelling volumes, with only a formal stylistic approach to the heavy ‘draping’ of the flesh that distinguishes the animal as a rhinoceros.

These flesh folds give the figure an armoured appearance, distinctive for the Indian rhinoceros. An incised groove runs along the spine, from the nuchal hump to just short of the rump. n ot e on t h e provena n c e Hungarian-born art dealer Joseph Brummer (1883– 1947) cultivated an interest in the arts from an early age. He studied art, and was a sculptor all his life, but it is as a connoisseur and art dealer that he is best remembered.

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Joseph Brummer (1883–1947).

Exterior of Brummer Gallery, New York, circa 1925

Guennol Collection, 1975.

The Guennol Collection is the celebrated collection of Alastair Bradley Martin and his wife, Edith Park Martin, who named the collection ‘Guennol’, after the Welsh word for “marten” (a small mammal), as a play on their surname and because they spent part of their honeymoon in Wales.

He moved to Paris and formed a partnership with the Maison Delhomme to sell antiquities and in November of 1910, he set up his own gallery, Maison Joseph Brummer. A few months later moved premises and renamed the gallery to Brummer: Objets d’art anciens. His younger brothers Imre (1889–1928) and Ernest (1891–1964), soon joined him and the gallery was renamed Brummer Frères: Curiosités. The brothers worked in Paris for two years, while Ernest studied art history and archaeology at the École du Louvre and the Sorbonne. In 1914, Joseph and Imre immigrated to New York and opened a gallery on 57th Street

They began collecting after the Second World War, and their passion for objects transcended any one collecting category or time period, featuring outstanding examples of ancient art of many cultures, American Folk Art, African and Asian Art. Works of art were not selected for investment or because of trends in the market; their taste was highly personal and eclectic. Of their collecting, Mr. Martin once wrote, “The fundamental rule is this: If something gives you pleasure, buy it.” Their enthusiasm for collecting was matched only by their generosity.

The Paris branch closed after the First World War and in 1921 Joseph moved to New York full-time, becoming one of the pre-eminent dealers of his time, specialising in medieval and Renaissance European art, and Classical, Ancient Egyptian, African, and preColumbian objects, as well as holding exhibitions of modern painters.

Beginning in 1948 Mr. Martin became a trustee of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and for a term served as the Board’s President. It was a long association that included the donation of important objects as well as the loan of dozens of significant works, including The Guennol Lioness. Various treasures from their collection have also been lent for special exhibitions at

He built up an extraordinary private collection during this time, a major portion of which was bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art upon his death in 1947.

The remaining collection was sold in 1949 at ParkeBernet Galleries.

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other institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fogg Art Museum and the Jewish Museum, among others. The Guennol Collection itself has also been the subject of separate, single collection exhibitions at both the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1969) and the Brooklyn Museum of Art (2000).

Brummer inventory card

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12

MOSAIC OF A UNICORN Cyrenaica or Syria, early Christian, 5th–6th century a.d.

Marble Tesserae, h : 128.1 cm; w : 139.7 cm; d : 5.7 cm publis h ed Catalogue of Egyptian, Western Asiatic, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities and Islamic Pottery and Metalwork, Sotheby’s & Co, auction catalogue: 1st December 1969, London, lot 29.

Jürgen W. Einhorn, Spiritualis unicornis: Das Einhorn als Beseutungsträger in Literature und Kunst des Mittelalters, Munich, 1976, p. 85.

Maria Theresa and Pierre Canivet, ‘La Licorne dans les mosaïques d’Huarte-d’Apamène, ive-ve siècles’, in Byzantion, vol. 49 (1979), 1979, pp. 57– 87. provenance With Nicolas Koutoulakis (1910–1996), Paris, from at least 1969.

Sold at: Sotheby’s & Co., Egyptian, Western Asiatic, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities and Islamic Pottery and Metalwork, 1st December 1969, lot 29.

Private Collection of Phil Eaton, LaPorte, Chicago, USA, acquired from the above sale.

Thence by descent.

French art market. alr: S00206246 co nd itio n In good condition, fragment from a larger mosaic, set in plaster. Missing tesserae from around the edges.

Selected pages from Sotheby’s & Co., 1969, Spiritalis Unicornis and Byzantion, 1979.

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day Syria. This last example is of particular interest as there survives a clutch of 5th century A.D. mosaics which also depict unicorns, described in the 1970s by Maria Theresa and Pierre Canivet (‘La Licorne dans les mosaïques d’Huarte-d’Apamène, ive-ve siècles’, Byzantion, vol. 49, 1979) which are stylistically very similar to the present mosaic.

This large fragment of a mosaic depicts a unicorn created in marble tesserae in various shades ranging from ivory to a very dark brown outlining the shape of the subject and the floral motifs surrounding it. The body is soft and rounded, with a long curving neck, small head, and goatee beard. A spiral horn protrudes from between erect ears identifying the mythical creature. The rear left leg is slightly lifted, giving the impression of forward motion, and the tail streams out behind.

This mosaic has also been linked to Cyrenaica, on the eastern coast of Libya, Jürgen W. Einhorn in his discussion of the work in 1976 states that a Dr. Ferdinand Molinski expressed to him the view that the piece was probably a 6th-century mosaic from Cyrenaica, based on his knowledge of parallel pieces (Spiritualis unicornis: Das Einhorn als Beseutungsträger in Literature und Kunst des Mittelalters, Munich, 1976).

The refined colour and quality of this exceptional mosaic compare it to some of the finest surviving early Christian mosaics, for example, those in the early Christian church discovered at Delphi in the 1960s, in the church at Heraclea Lyncestis in Macedon, and Huarte, a site some 15km from Apamea, in modern-

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13

LUSTRE BOWL WITH AN IBEX Iraq, 10th century a.d.

Ceramic, h : 4 cm; d : 13 cm publis h ed Keramik der Islamischen Welt / Ceramics from the Islamic World 8. – 18. Jahrhundert, Fritz Lehnhoff (Islamische Kunst), Munich, 4th – 28th April 1989, p. 40, cat. 4. provenance Previously in a Private Collection, Paris, early 1980s (accompanied by French Cultural Passport no. 231631) alr: S00221586 co nd itio n With some cracks and some small parts missing, but not visible under UV lamp. One of the ibex’s eyes seems to be repainted, and there are some repairs to the left of the bowl. The glaze is in good overall condition.

Selected pages from Keramik der Islamischen Welt / Ceramics from the Islamic World, 1989.

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KEIR Collection, bowl with luster-painting.

Small shallow earthenware bowl decorated with lustre.

With rounded sides and an everted rim, resting on a low foot ring. Covered in an opaque white, probably tin, glaze with gold-brown lustre decoration. An ibex is painted inside, surrounded by a field of dotted decoration, with a scalloped frieze around the rim. A partial Kufic inscription is painted on its right horn.

On the back are three painted lustre discs with smaller discs inside, with dotted decoration. The lustre is painted with a fluid, free hand typical of the best of these types of wares.

ruler and his court. These wares were so highly regarded that they were sent far afield, with fragments discovered in Pakistan and Cordoba. This type of monochrome golden lustre decoration seems to have reached its peak in the 10th century, falling out of fashion afterwards.

This bowl is part of an interesting group of similar ceramics decorated with animals in lustre belonging to the Keir Collection (Ernst J. Grube, Islamic Pottery of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection, Faber and Faber, London, 1976, nos. 25–30, pp. 65–67). The decoration on the reverse of this cup is characteristic of Abbasid coins, belonging to type E listed by E. Grube (op. Cit., p. 50).

The presence of an animal indicates a courtly rather than a religious purpose for the bowl. More than any other pottery, lustre evoked the supreme status of a

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14

FATIMID PEN BOX Egypt or Syria, Fatimid, 10th–11th century Clear Glass, l : 11.8 cm publis h ed Hommage a Rene Huyghe, Tessier & Sarrou et Associés, Paris, 5th June 2019, Lot 168.

Art De L’Islam et De L’Inde & Archéologie, Ader, Paris, 25th November 2021, Lot 170. provenance Previously in the Private Collection of René Huyghe (1906–1997), kept in an apartment on the rue Corneille, Paris, where he had lived since the 1960s.

Thence by descent to his son François-Bernard Huyghe.

Sold at: Hommage a Rene Huyghe, Tessier & Sarrou et Associés, Paris, 5th June 2019, Lot 168.

Private Collection, France, acquired from the above in 2019.

Sold at: Art De L’Islam et De L’Inde & Archéologie, Ader, Paris, 25th November 2021, Lot 170.

Acquired from the above sale. alr: S00219034 co nd itio n Intact with erosion and encrustation to the surface as expected with archaeological glass.

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This Fatimid glass pen box is created in colourless glass, a wheel-cut decoration is visible, although the decay of the glass over time has blurred its clarity. The two parts are of equal size, oblong in shape with rounded edges.

Rubens (winner of a prize at the Venice Biennale), and founded the International Federation of Films on Art. He was instrumental during the Second World War in helping to organise the evacuation of the Louvre’s paintings into the unoccupied zone, taking charge of their protection until the end of the war.

An exceedingly rare and unusual object, this glass box belongs to very small group of similar containers of which, according to the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, initially only three were known, though others have since emerged. One of the other boxes is in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, catalogued as from West Asia or Iran, 10th-11th century; another is in Berlin, in the Museum für Islamische Kunst, which was found in Egypt and is catalogued as 11th century Fatimid Egyptian. Both boxes have metal hinges, with which the box was opened, and it is possible that the current box also had such hinges, now lost. The box in Toronto displays similar wheel-cut decoration as the current box, which is claimed to point to an eastern origin, suggesting both may therefore have been worked in glasshouses in Iraq or Iran in the 10th and 11th centuries, when wheel-cut glass was produced in larger numbers.

The third box is kept in the Cathedral Treasury in Capua, Italy and was used to house the relics of Saint Blaise. The metal hinges and clasp on the third box are not of Islamic origin and were probably added later.

In 1974 he was made director of the Musée JacquemartAndré. He was a professor at the Collège de France and a member of the Académie Française, and published a philosophical discourse called Dawn After Dark with the Japanese philosopher Daisaku Ikeda.

n ote on the p rovenance René Huyghe (1906–1997) was a French writer, philosopher, and curator. From 1930 he was curator of the Louvre’s department of paintings, rising to chief curator and professor of the école du Louvre in 1936, aged only 30. He founded and edited the reviews L’Amour de l’Art and Quadrige, was one of the first figures in France to make films on art, such as his

René Huyghe (1906–1997).

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15

THE ‘BELLON’ VASE Syria, Raqqa, 12th–13th century Ceramic, h : 23 cm; w : 17 cm publis h ed Collection H Hoffmann, Objets D’Art, Drouot, 30 Mai 1888, Paris, Lot 81. provenance Previously in the Private Collection of Mr Henri Hoffmann (1823–1897), Paris, prior to 1888.

Sold at: Collection H Hoffmann, Objets D’Art, Drouot, 30 Mai 1888, Paris, Lot 81.

Private Collection of Mr Louis-Gabriel Bellon (1819–1899) France (no. 291, catalogued as Mesopotamian, with 4 inventory labels), acquired from the above sale.

Thence by descent to his son Paul Bellon (1844–1928).

Thence by descent. alr: S00217422 co nd itio n With circa 8 cm loss to rim restored with infill. Historical surface staining has been removed, and areas of iridescence and acquired glaze pitting are present.

Selected pages from Collection H Hoffmann, Objets D’Art, 1888.

Handwritten inventory labels, circa 1888.

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A baluster-shaped ceramic vase with siliceous paste painted in manganese and cobalt, under a transparent glaze. With hand-painted blue and white decorations.

Stone paste or ‘fritware’ vessels with lustre, turquoise, white and cobalt blue glazes were famously crafted in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, situated on the

Euphrates River. They were often utilitarian in design, but elegant and intricate in decoration. This present example was most likely used as a storage vessel. Like many transportable ceramics in the region, it is possible this piece was exported out of the city, either to be traded or as a container for more expensive goods.

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n ote on the p rovenance Henri Hoffmann (1823–1897), was a very well-known numismatist, expert at the Hôtel Drouot, scientific editor of the periodical Le Numismate (1862–1865), Member of the French Society of Numismatics and Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of Belgium.

Henri Hoffmann was, throughout the second half of the 19th century, a key figure in the market for coins and medals, and from the Pourtalès sale of 1865, for antiques.

Henri Hoffmann, (1823–1897).

His activity as an antique dealer took precedence over numismatics from the 1880s, when he became, until his death, one of the main suppliers of antiquities in Paris. He sold more than 3000 antiques spread over approximately ten sales, where he had all responsibilities: seller, expert, catalogue editor, and collector. He was reputed to be close Musée du Louvre curator Wilhelm Fröhner and had a central place in the world of antique dealers between 1870 and 1897.

Louis-Gabriel Bellon (1819–1899).

privées de France et des musées d’Athènes (Greek terracotta photographs based on the originals taken from private collections in France and from museums in Athens), A. Cartault replicated several of them and said: “They have come to form a sort of colony in Rouen, and experts, who go to visit them occasionally, are received with perfect grace from the lit cabinet they occupy on the banks of the Seine”.

Louis-Gabriel Bellon (1819–1899) is today regarded as an important collector of antiquities in 19th-century France. Born in Lille on the 20th of October 1819, Bellon showed a keen interest in the arts from a very young age. He moved in the same circles as Corot and Daguerre, who later became friends.

These elegantly draped women were among the several thousands of antique vases that were either unearthed during the excavations organised by Bellon or acquired from the best antiques dealers and memorable auctions of the time (Hoffman, Lavêque etc). Methodical and conscientious, Bellon kept meticulous records and inventories where each object was described, drawn, and referenced with a precision that was remarkable for the time.

From the 1850s, after having amassed his fortune, he began to indulge his passion for the antiquities of the ancient Mediterranean and set about leading regular excavations in his local area of Saint-Nicholas-les-Arras, where he restored Gallo-Roman and Merovingian necropolises.

When he died on 20th May 1899, his son Paul (1844– 1928), to keep the memory of his father and his passion alive, continued to add to the collection, eventually housing it in a purpose-built museum in SaintNicolas. This was tragically destroyed by bombing in the First World War, along with all its contents.

Fortunately, some of his extraordinary collection had been preserved amongst his family, including the present work, and so the legacy of this important collector was not entirely lost.

He developed a particular interest in Greek terracotta Tanagra figurines, eventually being recognised as one of the leading experts in the field. His immense collection, the largest in France, exceeded that of de Clercq and Gréau; part of it featured in the famous retrospective exhibition at the Trocadéro in 1878, and Rouen in 1884. In his work Terres cuites grecques photographiées d’après les originaux des collections

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16

ATTIC BLACK-FIGURE AMPHORA Athens, circa, 530–529 b.c.

Terracotta, h : 45 cm publis h ed Beazley Archives, No. 340539 (catalogued as in a Private Collection in Switzerland).

J. D. Beazley, Paralipomena, Oxford 1971, 130.5BIS. T. H. Carpenter, with T. Mannack and M. Mendonca, Beazley Addenda, 2nd Edition, (Oxford, 1989), 78.

Representations of Athena in black-figured amphorae of the sixth century BCE: an exercise of iconographic/Representacoes de Atena em anforas de figuras negras do seculo VI a.C.: um exercicio de analise iconografica. Larissa de Souza Correia and Camila Diogo de Souza, Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia(Issue 25) 2015. (Drawing of side 2) provenance Previously in the Private Collection of Dr. Athos Moretti (1907–1993), Bellinzona, Switzerland, since the 1950/60s.

With Pino Donati, Molinazzo di Montaggio, Switzerland, acquired from the above towards the end of the 1970s.

Paris art market.

ALR: S00218934 co nd itio n In excellent condition with minor chips as expected with age. The foot has been broken and reattached.

Selected pages from Beazley Addenda, 2nd Edition, 1989 and the Beazley Archives (online).

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n ot e on t h e provena n c e

This fine Attic black-figure vase with a small foot, narrow neck and tight handles depicting on one side the fourth labour of Hercules, the capture of the wild Boar of Mount Erymanthus, showing the hero delivering the defeated boar to Eurystheus, king of Tiryns, who cowers in a half-buried jar. Athena stands to his left, and Hermes to his right. On the opposing side, two female figures, possibly goddesses (Beazley suggests possibly Demeter and Persephone), are drawn seated in a chariot pulled by two winged horses. A woman honours them with a raised wreath and a youth walks ahead of the horses. Around the neck of the vase is a band of palmettes.

Dr Athos D. Moretti (1907–1993) was the director of the major Swiss pharmaceutical company Maestretti who initially collected paintings. In the 1950s, at the urging of his wife, he switched to coins, and in time built up significant collections of Greek silver, Roman gold, and Milanese coins of all eras. A generous patron of art and scholarship, he made his collections widely available for study and financed the publication of several important references. His gold collection was bought en bloc

by Numismatic Fine Arts and sold anonymously at auction between 1989 and 1991. Very discrete during his lifetime, Moretti possessed a keen eye for quality and his collection pedigree has become highly prized since his passing.

In black-figure vase painting, figural and ornamental motifs were applied with a slip that turned black during firing, while the background was left the colour of the clay – here there must have been a problem with the heat of the kiln and the resulting carbonisation of the applied slip, as the motifs are still a pale red, giving the whole vase a rather beautiful and ethereal overall effect.

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17

GLASS VESSEL WITH GEOMETRIC DESIGN, DISCOVERED IN 1933 Gallo-Roman, circa 1–2nd century a.d.

Glass, h : 6.5 cm; d : 7 cm publis h ed Reproduced in a series of postcards produced in 1933 after the excavation.

Pierre Filloux, ‘A propos d’archéologie gallo-romaine’, Les cahiers de Marottes et Violons d’Ingres, revue réservée au corps médical, nouvelle série, 1949, n°3, p. 94.

Bulletin de la Société archéologique l’Orléanais, NS, IV, 3–4., 1966, pp. 193–196 Jacques Debal, ‘Le ‘cimetière romain’ de Soings-en Sologne (Loir-et-Cher)’, Revue archéologique du Centre de la France, 1970, 9–1, pp. 20–31 François Lacore, Typologie des verres gallo-romains de Touraine, Université de Tours, Mémoire de maîtrise dactylographié, June 1975, pp. 133–135. provenance Discovered in excavations in February 1933 of the Gallo-Roman necropolis at Soings-en-Sologne, Loir-et-Cher, France, which were organised by Dr. Pierre Filloux, a young medical doctor and amateur archaeologist from nearby Contres.

Private Collection of Dr. Pierre Filloux, kept at his home in Contres.

Thence by descent. alr: S00224365 co nd itio n Erosion as expected with burial and excavation, mostly complete with restored breaks. Minor areas of infill and reinforcement.

Postcard 1

Selected pages from Les cahiers de Marottes et Violons d’Ingres, 1949 and Bulletin de la Société archéologique l’Orléanais, 1966.

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Revue Archeologique du Centre, 1975.

Selected pages from Revue Archeologique du Centre, 1975 and François Lacore, Typologie des verres gallo-romains de Touraine, Université de Tours, Mémoire de maîtrise dactylographié, 1975.

Small, moulded Gallo-Roman glass vessel, with geometric raised decoration in the form of a central band with a zig-zag pattern framed by bands punctuated with raised hemispheres. Discovered in the GalloRoman necropolis at Soings-en-Sologne, Loir-et-Cher, France, in excavations in 1933.

Miroir du Monde, November 1933 and NY Times, December 1933

a local farmer Mr. Coupechou, and paid for a team of workmen to excavate the cemetery, hoping to uncover its secrets. He discovered over 500 tombs and around 1,200 objects, including a fine array of late Roman glassware, of which this cup is an example.

The excavation caused a stir at the time and was written about in the Miroir du Monde (November 1933, who call him Dr. Raphael Filloux, which may either be a mistake or an alternative name) and the New York Times (December 1933). A series of postcards printed in 1933 and featuring images of the local area even included images of the excavation, as well as images of objects discovered, amongst them the present cup.

Unfortunately, the notes taken during the excavations disappeared during the war, so it is not possible to determine the precise tomb this cup was discovered in.

The large Gallo-Roman necropolis at Soigns-enSologne, around 25 km southeast from Blois, had been known about for over two hundred years. Louis de la Saussaye, who partially explored the site in 1821 and wrote about it in 1844 and E.C. Florance, who wrote about it in 1923–29. It is located to the southeast of the village, between what was then the route de Gy et le chemin rural du Grand Orme and near a small lake, which was said to have been sacred to the druids.

In 1933 Dr. Pierre Filloux, a young medical doctor and keen amateur archaeologist from nearby Contres who had learned of the necropolis from his father, rented a portion of the cemetery, an asparagus field belonging to

The site has since been excavated again, in August 1967 and November 2012.

Dr. Pierre Filloux at the excavations, 1933.

Mr. Coupechou, 1933.

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18

THE ‘EVERLEIGH’ PHILOSOPHER Romano-British, circa 43–410 a.d.

Copper Alloy, h : 6.25 cm; w : 2.4 cm publis h ed Treasure Hunting Magazine, A Hobby of True Discovery, May 2022, pp. 41–43 provenance Found by metal detectorist Christopher Phillips in a field in Everleigh, Wiltshire, UK, on 10th August 2021 (recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme, report no. WILT-81FA47). alr: S00221759 co nd itio n No restoration and in perfect condition

Treasure Hunting Magazine, A Hobby of True Discovery, May 2022

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Discovered in Everleigh, Wiltshire, UK, in 2021.

A complete Romano-British statuette of a bearded and moustachioed man, wrapped in a cloak. In the round, with head tilted slightly upwards and feet a little splayed, on a rectangular base. The hair radiates backwards from the crown of the head and may be designed to represent plaits, with the ends as knops above the forehead. Thick moulding around the neck represents either a torque or a large collar. The figure is designed to stand upright by itself, although may have also formed part of another structure, as a finial or similar. The figure is stylised to the extent that the head is out of proportion with the body, being somewhat too large. He is seated on a small bench, not visible from the front.

No direct parallel is known, although the seated posture is reminiscent of Greek philosopher statues, hence the identification here. His features, in particular his head, are reminiscent of Celtic figures, and known representations of the deity Sucellus. The figure here, however, is missing the attributes (jar or small cooking pot) associated with the god and it is unlikely to be him.

Another possibility is that of a schoolteacher or tutor, similar to the central figure in a Roman relief from Neumagen, near Trier (see E. M. Wightman, Roman Trier and the Treviri (London 1970), pl. 14a, p. 150).

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19

STANDING GODDESS Boeotia, Archaic Period, circa 625–550 b.c.

Terracotta, h : 18.42 cm; w : 6.35 cm exh ibited Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1925–2014 American University Museum, 2014–2021 publis h ed ‘Collection of Antique Grecian, Egyptian and Etruscan Statuettes, Vases, Tanagras etc.

Made by Raphael Collin of Paris, France’, January 1911, no. 26, p. 4.

Original Clark Catalog, 1911, p. 236, part 2, no. 26 Illustrated Handbook of the W. A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1928, p. 103, no. 2529.

Illustrated Handbook of the W. A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1932, p. 107, no. 2529. provenance Previously in the Private Collection of Raphaël Collin (1850–1916), France, acquired between 1890 and 1910. The collection was assembled with the help of Edmond Pottier, curator in the department of Eastern antiquities at the Musee du Louvre.

Private Collection of Senator William A. Clark (1839–1925), USA, acquired from Raphaël Collin circa 1911.

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, (1926–2014), bequeathed by William A. Clark in 1926.

American University Museum (2014–2021), bequeathed by the trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art on its closure in 2014, de-accessioned to raise funds for the American University Museum with the agreement of the Corcoran museum trustees and the American University Museum directors in 2021. alr: S00221584 co nd itio n Intact with minor chips and abrasions, retaining crisp red decoration. The bottom of the base has been sanded.

The surface appears stable, slightly soft but without evidence of flaking or efflorescence.

Selected pages from ‘Collection of Antique Grecian, Egyptian and Etruscan Statuettes, Vases, Tanagras etc. Made by Raphael Collin of Paris, France’, 1911.

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Selected pages from Illustrated Handbook of the W. A. Clark Collection, 1928 and 1932.

A solid, handmade figure of a standing goddess, with oval base, slightly concave on the underside. Of the mouse-face type, probably representing the goddess Hera. With a flat body and short, protruding arms.

Long, wig-like lappets of hair hang down either side of the body from an elaborate polos crown with projecting volute. There is red decoration on the dress, hair and crown, and the feet are indicated with red.

curator in the department of Eastern antiquities at the Musée du Louvre, and Paul Jamot, the distinguished curator, inspected the collection and pronounced it, “one of the most interesting, valuable, and harmonious collections he had ever inspected.”

In around 1911 Collin sold the collection in its entirety to Senator William A. Clark (1839–1925). Clark was an American Senator and titan of industry, who made his large fortune mostly in copper mining in Montana, becoming known as one of the three ‘Copper Kings’ of Butte, Montana, along with Marcus Daly and F. Augustus Heinze.

n ote on the p rovenance French painter Raphaël Collin (1850–1916) was a prominent academic painter, a pupil of Bouguereau, who is today mostly remembered for his interest in Japanese art and ceramics, and the links he created between Japanese and French art. Kuroda Seiki, Kume Keiichirō, and Okada Saburōsuke, among others, studied in his studio and at the Académie Colarossi, where Collin was associated.

His interest in Japanese ceramics may have sparked his interest in antiquities, as between 1890 and 1910 he formed a collection which was comprised of Greek pottery vases and terracottas. He received expert advice on the collection from Edmond Pottier, the French art historian and archaeologist who was, from 1908 to 1925

Raphaël Collin (1850–1916).

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Sentator William A. Clark (1839–1925).

Clark’s long-standing dream of becoming a United States Senator resulted in scandal in 1899 when it was revealed that he bribed members of the Montana State Legislature in return for their votes. At the time, U.S. Senators were chosen by their respective state legislatures. The corruption of his election contributed to the passage of the 17th Amendment. The U.S. Senate refused to seat Clark because of the 1899 bribery scheme, but a later senate campaign was successful, and he served a single term from 1901 until 1907. In responding to criticism of his bribery of the Montana legislature, Clark is reported to have said, “I never bought a man who wasn’t for sale.”

The Corcoran Gallery of Art

Clark died at the age of 86 in his New York City mansion. His estate at his death was estimated to be worth $300 million, (equivalent to $4,635,484,000 in today’s dollars), making him one of the wealthiest Americans ever.

He used his fortune to build up a large and notable art collection, which included paintings and drawings, antiquities and Italian maiolica, as well as Persian carpets and French tapestries. On his death his collection was donated, at his request, to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, with his descendants donating the Clark Wing to house it, designed by Charles Adam Platt. The gallery’s main collection consisted of donations by Clark, Corcoran and a few major donors.

The Corcoran closed in 2014. Much of its collection went to the National Gallery of Art, but more than 9,000 works were donated to the American University Museum, including Clark’s antiquity collection, this piece amongst them. A large portion of the antiquities were de-accessioned to raise funds for the American University Museum with the agreement of the Corcoran museum trustees and the American University Museum directors in 2021.

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20

WOMAN CARRYING AN AMPHORA Cypro-Archaic, circa 7th century b.c.

Terracotta, h : 17.5 cm; w : 5.4 cm exh ibited Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1925–2014 American University Museum, 2014–2021 publis h ed ‘Collection of Antique Grecian, Egyptian and Etruscan Statuettes, Vases, Tanagras etc.

Made by Raphael Collin of Paris, France’, January 1911, no. 1, p. 1 (as canéphore, 15th–10th century b.c.).

Original Clark Catalog, p. 234, part 2, no. 1 Illustrated Handbook of the W. A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1928, p. 99, no. 2504.

Illustrated Handbook of the W. A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1932, p. 105, no. 2504. provenance Previously in the Private Collection of Raphaël Collin (1850–1916), France, acquired between 1890 and 1910. The collection was assembled with the help of Edmond Pottier, curator in the department of Eastern antiquities at the Musée du Louvre.

Private Collection of Senator William A. Clark (1839–1925), USA, acquired from Raphaël Collin circa 1911.

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, (1926–2014), bequeathed by William A. Clark in 1926.

American University Museum (2014–2021), bequeathed by the trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art on its closure in 2014, de-accessioned to raise funds for the American University Museum with the agreement of the Corcoran museum trustees and the American University Museum directors in 2021.ALR: S00221583 co nd itio n Intact and in very good, stable condition overall with no visible breaks or repairs. Some small areas of loss to the decorated surface.

Selected pages from ‘Collection of Antique Grecian, Egyptian and Etruscan Statuettes, Vases, Tanagras etc. Made by Raphael Collin of Paris, France’, 1911.

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Selected pages from Illustrated Handbook of the W. A. Clark Collection, 1928 and 1932.

A hollow, wheel-made female figure standing, holding a belly-handled amphora on the top of her head. Splayed at the base, with applied pellets as breasts. Painted with red and black decoration, delineating clothing and features. Her skirt is decorated with black bands, a trapezoidal ornament is painted hanging around her neck and her eyes, eyebrows and fingers are painted in black. There is red on her arms and ears. The amphora is decorated with black and red bands and a small pine tree on either side. n ote on the p rovenance French painter Raphaël Collin (1850 –1916), In around 1911 Collin sold the collection in its entirety to Senator William A. Clark (1839 – 1925). for more information see entry 19.

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21

PAIR OF STANDING FEMALE IDOLS Possibly Iraq, Syria or Turkey, circa 7th millennium b.c.

Plaster (lime), h : 9.05 cm exh ibited Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, February 1988 – 26th November 2019, (accession no. L.1988.7.1, received as a consignment 21st February 1986 and accepted on loan February 1988). provenance Previously in the Private Collection of Jeannette and Jonathan P. Rosen, USA, from at least 21st February 1986 (when consigned to the Metropolitan Museum).

ALR: S00224413 co nd itio n In good condition, slightly friable surface with naturally occurring calcified encrustations as expected with age and material.

Depicting two figures, with losses throughout and areas of incrustation.

Metropolitan Museum record photos, 1988.

On display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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Pair of nude steatopygous female figures joined at the side, with the inside arm around the opposite’s shoulder. Each figure’s outer arm is bent at the elbow, with a hand resting above their naval. Belly and legs are indicated by incised lines.

links to fertility, fecundity and the harvest have often been assumed, especially when one considers that one of the finest examples, the Seated Woman of Çatalhüyük, was discovered within a grain storage container. They have been found as far back as the Palaeolithic period, nearly thirty thousand years ago, and continue into the early Bronze Age. The repetition of certain traits, such as them being often featureless, with large breasts, bellies and thighs, and often pregnant, has led some scholars to posit that they represent an overarching Mother Goddess, or female Supreme Creator, who was eventually supplanted by the patriarchal religions of the Bronze Age. The fact that almost all of them are petite, small enough to hold in the hand and easily portable, stems most likely from their origin amongst nomadic tribes, a tradition then carried on when the tribes settled into the earliest human villages.

An unusual variation to the ‘Venus’ figures which are so synonymous with early neolithic art, this idol presents two female figures together, suggesting a familial, or even perhaps a more intimate, relationship. They date from a period when human beings were moving away from the traditional hunter-gatherer societies and beginning to form communities based around arable farming and husbandry, settling and staying in areas which then became permanent villages. One of the best preserved and largest of these neolithic towns is Çatalhüyük in modern-day Turkey, which existed from approximately 7500 B.C. to 5200 B.C. A number of female idols have been discovered there, giving weight to argument that these societies may have incorporated the worship of a female fertility goddess, or goddesses, into their religion.

These figures have fascinated experts and artists since their discovery, often being touted as the earliest examples of figurative art in the round. Judy Chicago included, in her iconic 1979 feminist work The Dinner Party, a ceremonial banquet table where each place setting celebrates famous women from history, ‘The Fertile Goddess’, a reference to these extraordinary female figures. Their aesthetic is celebrated by artists such as Fernando Botero, whose women share their ample proportions, and you can see in Jenny Saville’s exploration and celebration of the female body an homage to objects like the Venus of Willendorf, whose figure, it has been suggested, comes from the sculptor looking down at her own pregnant body and copying what she saw.

The material used, lime plaster, is an unusual one, as most surviving neolithic figures tend to be of stone or terracotta. One of the only other few examples is a group of largescale lime plaster and reed figures which were discovered at the archaeological site of ‘Ain Ghazal in Jordan. A total of 15 statues and 15 busts were discovered in the village, and have been dated to around 7200–6500 B.C. The exact purpose and meaning of enigmatic and overtly female figures such as these has been lost, but

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22

FEMALE IDOL Syro-Hittite, 2000–1500 b.c.

Terracotta, h : 17 cm provenance With Nicolas Koutoulakis (1910–1996), Paris, from at least 1958.

Private Collection of Mr. Robert Blanchet (9th February 1921 – 12th July 2009), Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, acquired from the above 13th May 1958 (accompanied by a dated inventory, collection label stating the previous owner as N. Koutalakis and tag “Syrie fin IIe mil. av.J.C.”).

Thence by descent (accompanied by French cultural license 193070). alr: S00221748

Blanchet Inventory record, circa 1958.

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A two-dimensional standing female figure. With birdlike features, arms outstretched and the breasts, belly button and eyes exaggerated. Depicted nude aside from a triangular garment over the pubis. With a threeringed necklace around the neck and an elaborate headdress, with incised holes.

either certain deities, or else the offeror themselves, or perhaps have formed part of a household shrine.

The majority of ancient Near Eastern female idols are designed to emphasize their fertility. Early abstract idols such as this provided a source of inspiration to modern artists seeking to deconstruct the human form down to its basic elements, whilst retaining an emotional and spiritual impact.

Small terracotta figures such as this would have most likely functioned as votive offerings, representing

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23

FEMALE IDOL Syro-Hittite, 2000–1500 b.c.

Terracotta, h : 12.7 cm publis h ed Esquire Magazine, November 1965 (illus.) provenance With John J. Klejman (1906–1995), New York, from at least May 1965.

Private Collection of Amy (1930–2017) and Elliot Lawrence (1925–2021), New York, acquired from the above on May 24th, 1965 (accompanied by a dated invoice).

Thence by descent.

ALR: S00224367 co nd itio n Generally very good, a red slip applied to the surface is mostly worn away, chip on top proper top left corner of coiffure, very minor nicks and imperfections elsewhere.

Esquire Magazine, 1965

Klejman invoice, May 24th, 1965

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Stylised female idol, most likely of a goddess. With a stippled encircling girdle and applied collar, which is decorated with incised lines. Applied naval and circular eyes and beaked nose, with a high, flaring coiffure.

The majority of ancient Near Eastern female idols are designed to emphasize their fertility. Early abstract idols such as this provided a source of inspiration to modern artists seeking to deconstruct the human form down to its basic elements, whilst retaining an emotional and spiritual impact. n ote on the p rovenance Elliot Lawrence (February 14, 1925 – July 2, 2021) was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. Born in Philadelphia to Stan Lee Broza and Esther Broza, who were radio and television pioneers, he played music from a very early age. He became a big band leader, one of the last, and toured the US with his band the Elliot Lawrence Orchestra. Later he gave up jazz and focussed on composing for Broadway, film, and television, winning a Tony for his second show, ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’ in 1962.

He met Amy Jane Bunim (1930–2017) in 1956 on a blind date in New York City and they were married three months later. They started collecting in the late 50s, forming a collection of pre-modern sculptures including classical African, Oceanic, and American Indian art, as well as Pre-Columbian, Asian, and classical Antiquities. Amy preferred gracious lines and a sense of interiority, whereas Elliot had a passion for expression and bold volumes. While they were full

Amy (1930–2017) and Elliot (1925–2021) Lawrence.

partners in collecting, Elliot always said that Amy, who was a scholar, teacher and therapist, really had the best eye.

In New York, they worked closely with the dealer John Klejman, from whom this piece came. Later, a strong relationship with Merton Simpson resulted in many beautiful acquisitions, including the crown jewel of their collection – the Luba Bowstand by the Master of Warua, now in the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac Museum in Paris (inv. no. 70.2017.66.23).

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MALE SHAMAN FIGURE Caucasus, circa 12–8th century b.c.

Bronze, h : 7.6 cm exh ibited ‘Near Eastern and Far Eastern Art from the Collection of Jay C. Leff ’, The American Federation of Art, New York, 5th August – 29th September, 1965. publis h ed J. Haskin, Near Eastern and Far Eastern Art from the Collection of Jay C. Leff (Exhibition Catalogue), New York, 1965, no. 39. provenance Previously in the Private Collection of Mr Jay C. Leff (1925–2000), Uniontown, Pennsylvania, from at least 1965.

Thence by descent to his children Erin and Scott Leff.

Thence by descent. alr: S00224369 co nd itio n In excellent condition, minor damage caused by erosion to left ear. Natural encrustations to the surface.

Selected pages from ‘Near Eastern and Far Eastern Art from the Collection of Jay C. Leff ’, The American Federation of Art, New York, 1965.

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Standing bronze male figure, one hand held to his chest, the other extended in front. The extended arm ending in an over-sized hand, which would have held a spear or possibly a thunderbolt. With stylised facial features, the mouth open in an ‘O’, the ears ringed, possibly to hold earrings, and a tall crown.

of African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Arts as well as Antiquities. In an exhibition entitled “Ancient Art of Latin America,” nearly 500 objects from his collection of primitive arts were exhibited at The Brooklyn Museum occupying almost two galleries from 22nd November 1966 – 5th March 1967. Artworks from his collection were also famously exhibited at the Carnegie Institute (Pittsburgh), the American Federation of Arts (New York), the American Museum of Natural History (New York)

This dynamic idol appears captured in the midst of a gesture, the extended hand accompanying a shout shown by the open mouth. This, the strong wide stance and emphatic genitalia give the figure a ferocious, warlike appearance and speak to a possibly apotropaic function.

He amassed a collection of about 2,000 artworks many of which are now in the permanent collections of American institutions. He began his collecting activities with 18th-20th century Asian carvings, in particular Japanese netsuke, but soon moved into the collecting of non-Western antiquities and so-called ‘tribal art’. As he put it in the introduction to an exhibition of his collection at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, in 1959, “I hope, in exposing my collection to public scrutiny, I may thereby encourage others to charge brazenly into the art world or any other world, regardless of which areas of those worlds may first divert their attention.”

This figure was catalogued when in the collection of Jay Leff in the 60s as hailing from the Caucasus, a large and complex region which is centred around the Caucasian mountain range, bounded by the Black and Caspian seas and bordered by the Kuban and Terek rivers in the north and the Kura and Araxes rivers in the south, which produced complex bronze-work. n ote on the p rovenance Jay Calvin Leff (1925–2000), former president of the Fayette Bank and Trust Company of Uniontown, Pa, was an omnivorous collector from the 1950s to the 70s

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25

ROYAL PORTRAIT BUST Iran, Sasanian circa 5th – 7th century a.d.

Bronze, h : 33.5 cm publis h ed A Parrot, “Bronze Royal Sassanide,” Syria 32, fasc. 3/4, 1955, pp. 308–309, pls. XXII–XXIV. Art Journal 26, no. 1, Fall 1966, p. 47.

C. Benbow, ‘The Arts of the Persians at the Museum of Fine Arts’, St. Petersburg Times, Sunday 18th December 1966, p. 3 (illus.).

B. Overlaet ed., Entlang der Seidenstrasse: Frühmittelalterliche Kunst zwischen Persien und China in der Abegg-Stiftung, Riggisberg, 1998, p. 249, n. 9. provenance Said to be from Mazandaran, Iran.

With K. Rabenou Gallery, New York, acquired by 1955 (illustrated in an advert in Art Journal 26, no. 1, 1966, p. 47).

Thence by descent to his daughter Yris Rabenou Solomon (1935–2021), New York.

Thence by descent, New York. alr: S00227183 co nd itio n Intact as preserved. With losses to the crown, as visible in the image. Losses to the lower edges in the back.

The tip of the nose is dented. With a dark, even green patina throughout with some iron inclusions on both shoulders and on the reverse. Minor surface wear and abrasions throughout.

Selected pages from “Bronze Royal Sassanide,” Syria 32, 1955; Art Journal 26, 1966; ‘The Arts of the Persians at the Museum of Fine Arts’, St. Petersburg Times, 1966; Entlang der Seidenstrasse: Frühmittelalterliche Kunst zwischen Persien und China in der Abegg-Stiftung, 1998.

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This large bronze portrait is cast in the image of a Sasanid king or royal figure. A chest halter sits diagonally across the broad shoulders, with the two straps centrally fastened by a ring. He wears a two-layer jewelled necklace with two central drop-shape pendants and drop-shaped earrings. His hair is luxuriantly curled, and he has a finely curled moustache and a full beard.

His elaborate crown, now broken consists of a band at the forehead with some recessed areas along its length, the ties falling along his back. Above, at the front, are two crescents, the smaller one at the bottom. This was once surmounted by a now-missing ovoid, ribbed orb.

At each side are stepped crenelations, once supporting now-missing wings.

festations of the Sasanian sacred concept of kingship.

Sasanian kings are usually identified by their individual crowns. However, given that a threedimensional representation of a crown differs from the two-dimensional one seen on Sasanian coins, a certain attribution is difficult. Parrot (op. cit., 1955) has suggested either Peroz I (457–484 A.D.), Khosrow II (circa 590 A.D.) or Yazdegerd III (632–651 A.D.). For a carnelian seal depicting a king wearing a similar crown, identified by the accompanying inscription as Peroz, see no. 88 in Carter, et al., Arts of the Hellenized East. About his crown, Harper (in Carter, op. cit..) states that its different elements are probably symbols of Zoroastrian divinities: the stepped crenelations represent Ohrmazd, the supreme deity, and Anahita, goddess of waters and fertility; the crescents are the symbol of the moon god, Mah; and the wings are symbols for Verethragna, God of victory. The form of the crown at least suggests a secure date between the 5th and 7th centuries A.D.

This bust in near-identical to two surviving busts, one now in the Louvre (acquired in 1952, pls. IV–V, fig. 3 in Parrot, “Acquisitions et Inédits du Musée du Louvre,” Syria, XXX, 1953) and one previously in the Ishiguro Collection, Tokyo (no. 245 in Amiet et al., Arts de l’ancien Iran). Sasanian palaces were known to have been decorated with portrait busts in bronze or gesso, which sat in niches. The fact that three near-identical busts survive has led Prudence Oliver Harper to suggest that they were not representational portraits of specific kings, but rather idealised portraits which were mani-

n ot e on t h e provena n c e Khalil Rabenou (1905–1961) was a Paris and New Yorkbased Iranian antiquities dealer, for more information see entry 8.

Photo from Art Journal, 1966, the bust can be seen at the top left corner.

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VOTIVE HEAD OF A MAN Yemen, circa 1st century b.c – 1st century a.d.

Alabaster, h : 27 cm; w : 14 cm publis h ed Architectural Digest, November 1979 House & Garden, March 1985 John Richardson, John Richardson at Home, with photographs by François Halard, Oberto Gili, Horst and Derry Moore, Rizzoli, 2019.

Sotheby’s London, Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art, 17th December 2020, lot 73 John Richardson. A Scholar Collects, Sotheby’s 2020. provenance Reputedly from Beihan, probably from Hayd ibn ‘Aqil, the necropolis of ancient Timna’ Private Collection of Sir John Richardson (1924–2019), New York, acquired in or prior to 1965, kept prominently in his homes in both New York and London.

Sold: Sotheby’s London, Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art, 17th December 2020, lot 73 Paris art market, acquired from the above sale. alr: S00219087 co nd itio n Some minor surface wear and scratches, with a non-malignant fracture across the chin. Possible loss of inlay to the eyes and circular ornament on the chin. Area of loss to the tip of the nose.

Images from Architectural Digest, 1979.

House & Garden, 1985.

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John Richardson at Home, 2019.

In 1948, whilst working as an industrial designer and, occasionally, as an art and literary critic, Richardson met Douglas Cooper, an art dealer and critic with one of the largest and most important collections of Cubist art. The pair moved to the South of France, to the Château de Castille, where Richardson spent what became his most formative years. They were close friends with Picasso, a neighbour, and spent their time as major figures in the art world.

Richardson left for New York in 1960, where he successively opened the first New York office of Christie’s, served as gallery director of M Knoedler & Co, and began writing his masterful, multivolume biography of Picasso. He had taken a set at Albany in 1958 (thanks to his clearly formidable mother, who reminded the secretary of a time she had caught him cosying up to a schoolboy she had been escorting in a box at the Albert Hall), which he kept, a place where his friend, antique dealer Christopher Gibbs, described “spirited gatherings, where the scholarly and highminded collided with wilder, more exuberant friends in rooms filled with Picassos, Pre-Raphaelites and Roman busts”, but towards the end of the ‘70s he gave it up, moving to New York and Connecticut full-time.

Sir John Richardson, 1965.

This striking alabaster head of a man has a soft oval face with expressive features, sitting on an overly long neck with the purpose of insertion into a stele. The triangular nose is long and fine, and the straight mouth is signified by a simple engraved line with raised small, round, pursed lips. A beard collar underlines the lower part of the face outlining along the chin. Large almond-shaped eyes are hollowed out and traces of stucco are still present, evidence of a past inlay. The eyebrow incisions would certainly have been enhanced with bitumen or stucco inlays. These representations are made in the idealised image of a person, they embody the memory and the symbolic presence of the figure they were dedicated to.

The head would have been inserted into a cubic base or a niche dug in the upper part of a stele, often these would bear the name of the dedicant and family name.

All of his homes were filled with extraordinary works from all periods and in all styles. He collected for quality and out of enthusiasm, rather than academic interest, and was unafraid of mixing pieces together. “It’s an instinctive process beyond my control,” he said. “I mix things, and they galvanize each other.” His homes were featured in many of the more important interiors editorials of the day, including Architectural Digest and House & Garden, both of which pictured this head.

It has been suggested that this head originates from H.ayd bin ‘Aqīl, Timna’, (modern-day Beihan) in the capital of the ancient kingdom of Qatabān. This area was once an important hub in the famous Incense Route, which supplied Arabian and Indian incense via camel caravan to ports on the Mediterranean Sea, most notably Gaza, and Petra.

There are similarities that can be drawn between the head and an ink-wash drawing of Jacqueline Roque by Picasso, in its symmetrically and abstract, elongated quality of the features which Richardson had owned, judging by the portrait of him in Albany next to the drawing, since at least the early 1960s.

n ote on the p rovenance Sir John Richardson (6 February 1924 – 12 March 2019) was an art historian, dealer and collector best known for his four-volume biography of Pablo Picasso, which has been described as an unmatchable account.

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VOTIVE HEAD OF A WOMAN Yemen, 3rd century b.c. – 1st century a.d.

Alabaster, h : 26.5 cm publis h ed L’Œil, n°422, January 1990, pg.45.

Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I, Sotheby’s, London, 7th December 2021, Lot 1 (front cover). provenance Reputedly from Beihan, probably from Hayd ibn ‘Aqil, the necropolis of ancient Timna’.

Antonin Besse (1927–2016) and Christiane Besse (1928–2021), Aden and Paris, acquired in Yemen in the 1960s, collection number CB47 (With Accompanying Aden export license, May 1967).

Thence by descent.

Sold at: Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I, Sotheby’s, London, 7th December 2021, Lot 1 (front cover) Acquired from the above sale alr: S00227251 co nd itio n Abrasions on the proper right ear, minor chips throughout. Drilled at the neck for insertion of a sleeve and mounted on a rod inserted into a stone base.

L’Œil, n°422, January 1990. The head can be seen in the lower right image, second from left.

Record of export, 1967.

Record of export photographs, 1967.

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With a distinctively elongated and finely carved straight nose above a small mouth, thinly grooved arched eyebrows and high-sitting semi-circular ears in relief. The eyes are deeply carved and would have once been inlaid with stone or shell. Sculpted from a characteristic yellow veined alabaster, the top has been cut flat and left rough, possibly to fit into a niche or recess. The triangular protuberances on either side of the neck represent bunched hair and identify the figure as female.

Such heads most likely decorated tombs, memorialising the individuals within, and would have belonged to an elite individual. n ot e on t h e provena n c e Antonin ‘Tony’ Besse II (1927–2016) was the sixth child and third son of the prominent French-born, Adenbased businessman Antonin Besse and his second wife Hildra Crowther. His father, a passionate Anglophile and prominent anti-Nazi founded St. Anthony’s College, Oxford, was forever immortalised as Mr Baldwin in Evelyn Waugh’s novel ‘Scoop’, and was described by the travel writer and explorer Freya Stark as “a merchant in the style of the Arabian Nights”. He was a shrewd businessman who by 1923 controlled 72 per cent of the Red Sea oil trade, and in 1936 installed the first diesel engines in Arab dhows, building up a fleet that could operate in all weathers carrying mutton from Berbera to Aden.

This elegant head is reputed to have come from Hayd ibn 'Aqil, the necropolis of ancient Timna’, located a little to the north of the city. Timna’ was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Qataban, one of the richest kingdoms of ancient South Arabia, whose wealth derived largely from its strategic position along the Incense Route, as a trading point for merchants dealing in spices and, most importantly, frankincense, myrrh and cinnamon. According to the Roman author Pliny the Elder, who died in 79 A.D., Timna’ was a bustling city with some sixty-five temples. Excavations suggest a major fire forced its inhabitants to abandon the city sometime in the first century A.D.

Born in the south of France, Tony Besse II spent his youth running errands for the French resistance in the Alpilles. His formal education ended after he stood up in assembly and shouted at the headmaster, a Vichy supporter. He was interrogated , but the Italian officer had been in Somalia, knew of his father, and cried, “You have your life in front of you. Run!” Spells as a resistance fighter and, post-war, working the black market followed. At one point, after an argument with his father in Aden, he jumped on one of the company’s ships to New York and worked for a spell as an unlicensed taxi driver. After his father’s death in 1951 he took over the running of the family business, aged 24. During the 60s the couple was actively involved in the excavations at Palmyra and in Libya. Besse ran the family company until it was lost to Communist control, as their interests were nationalised in 1969.

He eventually made a home in Paris, but his heart remained in the war-torn Middle East.

Tony (1927–2016) and Christiane (1928–2021) Besse.

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In later life he was persuaded by Kurt Hahn, his father’s great friend and the founder of Gordonstoun, to help fund the founding of what is now UWC Atlantic, buying St Donat’s Castle, a 12th-century castle in South Wales once owned by William Randolph Hearst.

moving to France to study. She became a journalist in the 1950s and was sent to Yemen, where she became the first French female journalist to report on affairs there. She met Tony Besse in 1957. In later life, she was an editor and translator and was the first person to translate the works of William Boyd, James Baldwin and others into French.

Christiane Besse (1928–2021) was born in Senegal, the daughter of a soldier, and grew up in Morocco before

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THE GODDESS NEITH Egypt, 26th Dynasty, 664–525 b.c.

Bronze, electrum, h : 33 cm publis h ed Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, February 25th, 1971, no. 70, illus.

Sotheby’s, New York, June 5th, 1999, no. 31, illus. provenance Previously in the Private Collection of Albert Roothbert (1874–1965) and Toni von Horn (1899–1970) New York and Ridgefield, Connecticut, from at least 1928 (accompanied by a photograph of the bronze by photographer Arnold Genthe, dated 1928).

Topstone Fund, New York (a foundation set up by Roothbert and von Horn, named after their farm on Topstone Road, Connecticut) Bequeathed on von Horn’s death in 1970.

Sold: Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, February 25th, 1971, no. 70.

With Allan Caplan Trust, New York, acquired at the above sale.

Sold: Sotheby’s, New York, June 5th, 1999, no. 31 Private Collection, acquired at the above sale. alr: S00224371 co nd itio n Top of crown and volute restored, as well as both feet below ankles. Minor chip to rim of proper right ear.

Implements missing. Patches of corrosion overall.

Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 1971. Sotheby’s, New York, 1999.

Sotheby’s, New York, 1999.

Photograph by Arnold Genthe, 1928

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Bronze statue of the goddess Neith, striding, her left foot extended forward. Her left hand is extended forward and formally held a papyrus sceptre, a fragmentary ankh is visible in her right hand. She wears a closefitting sheath dress, incised with a broad usekh collar, and carefully engraved bracelets and armlets. On her head is the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, decorated with vertical striations and restored spiral and spire. Her face is finely molded, with a broad upturned nose and electrum-overlaid eyes and eyebrows.

for the most expensive and important objects. Most electrum used in Egypt was imported from Nubia, though some were found there. n ot e on t h e provena n c e Albert Roothbert (or Rothbart, or Rothbert, 1874– 1965) was an investment banker who was born in 1874 in Frankfurt, Germany to a long assimilated German Jewish family that had lived in that city since 1504. He emigrated to the United States in 1902 and became a partner in the investment firm Hallgarten & Co. He had a keen interest in art and archaeology, and in 1926 his collection of modern art was sold at Anderson Galleries to great acclaim. In the introduction to the sale, he stated that the purpose of the sale was, in part, to indulge in ‘the hunt for new prizes’, as his collection had grown to such a size that accommodating new acquisitions was becoming difficult. His interest in the Pharoah Akhenaten led him to sponsor an

Neith was one of the earliest recorded gods in the Egyptian pantheon, worshipped from early in the Predynastic era through to the arrival of Roman rule.

A war goddess and goddess of weaving, she was the patron goddess of the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and the city of Zau (Sais, in the 5th Nome of Lower Egypt) in the Delta. A powerful and popular goddess, she was, according to the Iunyt (Esna) cosmology, the creator of the world and the mother of the sun, Ra. This made her the mother of all of the gods, who often came to her to settle their disputes.

Her symbols are the bow and arrows and a sword and shield as a war goddess, a weaving shuttle as a funerary goddess, and the Red Crown of Lower Egypt as goddess of creation and mother goddess. She is usually depicted, as here, as a woman wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, however, she was occasionally depicted as a cow in connection with her role as the mother of Ra. The use of electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver sometimes called ‘green-gold’, for the eyes illustrates the high status of the object. Electrum had been used by the Egyptians since at least the 3rd millennium B.C., but, given its rarity, was reserved

The Roothbert apartment, 1933.

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archaeological mission led by Prof. Hermann Junker of the University of Vienna.

In 1936 he met, and married, German fashion photographer Antonie ‘Toni’ van Horn (1899–1970), who was the first woman to join the stable of Conde Nast’s Vogue and Vanity Fair in the 1930s. Active as Tony von Horn, her images were regular features, along with such luminaries as Edward Steichen, Adolf de Meyer and George Hoyningen-Heunes, in the magazines from the end of 1930 to 1935. The Roothbert’s lived on a beloved farm in Connecticut, on Topstone Road. The Topstone Fund, which Albert had run for some time, is named after their property.

Together, in 1958 Albert and Toni created The Roothbert Fund, a scholarship fund dedicated to promoting the idealism and education of young people, who, in the wake of the Second World War Albert Roothbert believed, would "create a new, more

enlightened society, which will want to live democratic principles, not merely claim them."

Albert Roothbert was friends with the famous photographer Arnold Genthe, who photographed the Neith in 1928.

Tony (1899–1970) and Albert Roothbert (1874–1965).

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WOODEN SARCOPHAGUS OF KHAMHOR Egypt, 26th Dynasty, circa 664–525 b.c.

Wood, Polychrome, h : 192 cm exh ibited Arts Antiques de Haute et Basse Egypte, Galerie Philippe Dodier, 1 Rue de Brémesnil, 50 Avranches, France, 1st July – 31st August 1968. publis h ed Arts Antiques de Haute et Basse Egypte, Galerie Philippe Dodier, France, 1968. reco rd ed The sarcophagus is recorded in the personal archive of French Egyptologist Jacques Jean Clère (1906–1989) which is held in the Griffith Institute, Oxford, the illustrated entry dated July 1968 and including a communication with Philippe Dodier. provenance With Galerie Philippe Dodier (1 Rue de Brémesnil, 50 Avranches, France) from at least 1968 (accompanied by an advertisement showing this sarcophagus as well as photographs from 1968). The sarcophagus was viewed by Egyptologist Jacques Jean Clère when with Dodier and included in his archive, dated 1968.

Private Collection, Rennes, France, acquired from the above in May 1968.

Paris art market, acquired from the above (accompanied by French cultural passport 165038).

Private Collection, USA, acquired from the above 20th April 2021. alr: S00223168 co nd itio n Complete coffin, in excellent condition, with wear, minor losses and areas of discolouration as expected with age. Restoration to localised areas including the top of the beard, knees, shins, and the right lower side of the lid. There is infill to the toes and to a crack running around the natural join of the separately made feet. The base of the coffin has areas of loss to the stucco surface. The interior is undecorated with small patches of red infill visible – possibly stabilising (full condition report available upon request).

Selected pages from Arts Antiques de Haute et Basse Egypte, 1968.

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Galerie Philippe Dodier fact sheets, circa 1968.

Jacques Jean Clèrefact sheets dated 25/07/1968.

A polychromed wooden sarcophagus for Khamhor, who wears a tripartite wig, shown drawn behind the ears of the figure, in a manner peculiar to coffins of this period, a false beard, which signifies his affiliation with Osiris, and two broad, elaborate usekh collars, one superimposed on the other.

The choice of white as the external covering is found on several other contemporary examples, all of which hail from the necropolis at Heracleopolis Magna, strongly pointing to it as the source of this coffin as well. For another similar example see a coffin now in the collection of the Gemer-Malohont Museum in Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia (cf. inv. no. 623/63).

The body is wrapped in a pleated white linen shroud, which suggests this is the final of the coffins within the sarcophagus and would have contained the body of Khamhor.

Inscribed around the feet with the standard offering formula, ‘An offering given by the king to Osiris, the lord of Bubastis, Khentyamentet the great god, the Lord of Abydos, that he may give an invocation offering bread, beer, oxen, birds, alabaster, clothing, and every good and pure thing upon which a god lives, for the ka of the revered Khamhor, True of Voice.’

n ot e on t h e provena n c e Philippe Dodier (1933–2015) opened his gallery in Avranches, Normandy, in 1961. He was close friends with fellow dealer Jean Roudillon and with Egyptologist Jacques Jean Clère (1906–1989), who viewed this sarcophagus in 1968 and included it in his archive.

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The Sarcophagus on display at Galerie Philippe Dodier, Avranches, France, 1968.

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INSCRIBED COPTIC STELE FOR APA SIMOTHE Egypt, 8th–10th century a.d.

Limestone, h : 60 cm; w : 41 cm; d : 3 cm provenance Possibly with George M. Juergen (1897–1986), New York.

Private Collection of Mr Louis Toth, Huntington Long Island, NY, originally acquired in the 1960s/1970s, possibly from the above.

With Harmer Rooke Numismatics, New York, from at least 1981.

Private Collection of Lawrence I. Feinberg, (1942–2009), papyrologist and specialist in ancient manuscripts turned antiquarian bookseller, New York, acquired from the above 20th April 1981, (accompanied by a dated 1981 invoice).

Thence by descent. alr: S00220486 co nd itio n Minor losses to inscription due to damage and wear, plaster repair to the upper left corner. Invasive blue staining over the bottom quarter of the surface, possibly caused by water damage and contact staining. Old collection label “209A” at the bottom of the front and originally mounted on an old wooden block base which is the likely cause of further erosion damage in recent years.

Invoice from Harmer Rooke Numastics to L. Feinberg, dated 1981.

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A Coptic stele with a 23 line inscription in Sahidic dialect, framed within a rectangular decorative border.

The inscription has been summarily translated by Dr. Lincoln H. Blumell of the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University as:

“An epitaph for an Apa (father) Simothe who was a resident of Tilothis (Nilopolis) in Upper Egypt. The text begins with an invocation to the Holy Trinity and then follows with an invocation to various biblical figures like Adam, Zoe (Eve), the patriarchs and the prophets.

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Following this, it contains a long litany of Egyptian saints and fathers who are listed for many lines before it commemorates Apa Simothe’s death. The epitaph concludes with a plea to God that he remember other Egyptian saints who had previously died.”

passion and studied papyrology, mastering Greek, Latin, Egyptian and various Semitic languages and receiving his master’s degree from Columbia University in 1967.

He was hired by Columbia in 1968 to sort and preserve more than 1,000 papyri and vellum fragments that the university had acquired from Egyptian dealers. During this project, he discovered one of the oldest written fragments of Homer’s Odyssey, dating to the third century B.C.

Sahidic is a dialect of the Coptic language which was originally spoken around Thebes in around the 2nd century A.D., before becoming the standard Coptic spoken across all of Upper Egypt in the 5th century A.D. It uses the Greek alphabet, supplemented by seven letters borrowed from earlier demotic writing and, whilst no longer spoken, is still the standard liturgical language of Coptic Christians of Egypt.

A connoisseur with a wide range of interests, he also collected rare coins, American furniture, prints, paintings, and decorative antiquities, choosing objects for their beauty and rarity, as well as their sense of history.

Funerary stele such as this one were part of the architecture of Coptic tombs, with the inscription intended to honour and commemorate the deceased.

They were for the most part in limestone or sandstone, such as this example here, but are also found in marble, alabaster, granite, wood, and terracotta. They were placed into a niche dug out of the mound which covered the tomb, or else within the burial chapel.

Often they were of the litanic type, listing saints in hierarchical order.

[… …] holy [… …] (1) [… …] our father Gabriel, our mother Mary, our father Adam, our mother Zoe, our fathers […] patriarch […] […] apostle, with the martyr apa (5) Biktor, [ap]a Phoibamon, apa […], apa George, apa Kyriakos, apa Ho[r], apa Paule, apa Simothe, the martyr, […] […], ap[a] Petsire (?), with his brothers, […] […], apa Lila[… …] (10) […] our fathers […], apa Polle, apa Anoup, apa Phib, apa Patem[…] […], apa […], apa Makare, with his children, a[pa … …], with his brothers, apa Ieremias, apa Enoch, apa Apollo, […] (15) with apa P[… …], a[l]l the saints, […] remember apa Simothe of Tiloǧ! He peacefully went to rest on the 12th of Thoout: amen, amen, amen!

Remember, too, my brother, Simothe, junior, his son, (20) with my [… …] brother […] watch over them [… …] apa Paule, apa Sourous (?), apa Pita, apa Och[…], apa Papnoute.

The title ‘Apa’ (father) given to the deceased, Simothe, could mean he was a priest or deacon. Another funerary stele recorded by Jacques van der Vliet (‘Coptic Epitaphs from Abydos’, Journal of Coptic studies, 2020, Volume: 22, pp. 205–228), whose whereabouts are currently unknown, mentions an Apa Simothe in a list of other Coptic saints (pp. 221–222). Nilopolis was a city and episcopal see on the left bank of the Nile, around forty-seven miles from Memphis. n ote on the p rovenance Lawrence I. Feinberg (1942–2009) was a well-regarded specialist in ancient manuscripts and papyri, who eventually established a business selling rare books and manuscripts out of his home. Originally intending to be a chemical engineer, he instead followed his true

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BACK PILLAR OF A STATUE WITH CARTOUCHE OF RAMSES II Egypt, 19th Dynasty, New Kingdom, 1279–1213 b.c.

Schist, h : 34.3 cm provenance Previously in the Private Collection of Dr. Bruce L. Ralston, Tuxedo Park, New York (d. July 1998), from at least May 1970 (accompanied by a slide of the relief dated May 1970, a photograph of the relief dated May 1972, a Sotheby’s appraisal dated 19th September 1979 & another dated 1987).

Thence by descent. alr: S00224410 co nd itio n A large fragment with good stable surface. Breaks to both ends, chips and pitting throughout as expected.

Originally mounted in a lucite base, now removed.

Images from 1970 and 1972.

Sotheby’s appraisal, dated 1979, and another dated 1987.

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Grey schist fragment incised in deep relief with a cartouche bearing the pre-nomen, or regnal name of Ramesses II, commonly known as ‘Ramesses the Great’.

This relief comes from the back pillar of a large figural statue of the King. Ramses the Great reigned from 1279 to 1213 B.C., allowing us to safely date this pillar to within this time frame.

It is thought that back pillars were utilised as a way of reinforcement, allowing stone statues to have the tall and slim profile of a standing human. Sometimes these pillars were left blank, either because the statue itself was to be placed in a niche or against a wall. However, they were also used as space for hieroglyphic text, often to identify the figure.

Ramesses the Great, the third pharaoh of the powerful 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom, has been hailed as one of the greatest pharaohs of all time. Responsible for building more great monuments than any other pharaoh, including at Karnak and Abu Simbel. His long reign is hailed as having brought Egypt into a golden age, and his funerary temple, the Ramesseum at the necropolis at Thebes, contained a massive library of some 10,000 papyrus scrolls. Upon his death, he was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, his body was later moved to a royal cache where it was discovered in 1881. It is now on display in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization

n ot e on t h e provena n c e Bruce L. Ralston (d. July 1998) was a neurosurgeon in Middletown, NY, who was born in New Jersey. He was married to a Shirley Wadhams Ralston, with whom he had Lowell, Betsy and Diana. Shirley was president of Jean Lawrence Associates, dealers in rare books and antiques in Tuxedo Park, NY.

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QATABANIAN INSCRIPTION Yemen, 1st century b.c. – 1st century a.d.

Limestone, l : 29 cm; h : 10 cm; d : 8 cm provenance Said to be from Beihan, (ancient city of Timna’) Yemen.

Previously in the Private Collection of E. F. Stonehouse, U.K., acquired in Beihan in 1960 whilst he was serving in Aden.

Private Collection of a lady, U.K., acquired from the above prior to 1968 (accompanied by copies of letters discussing the inscription from A. F. L. Beeston, dated 17th May 1968 and T. C. Mitchell, Keeper of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British Museum, dated 3rd May 1972, as well as a letter from Stonehouse presenting the stone and describing where and when it was found).

Thence by descent to a local Lincolnshire charity.

UK art market, 2021. alr: S00217423 This inscription has been registered with DASI’s Corpus of Qatabanic Inscriptions. co nd itio n A fragment of a larger block, generalised pitting throughout as expected, with no restorations.

A.F.L. Beeston letter, 1968.

T.C. Mitchell from the British Museum letter, 1972.

E.F. Stonehouse letter, 1972.

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Transcription.

An elegantly carved stone inscription, most likely originating from the Wadi Beihan, a valley located in the heartland of the kingdom of Qataban, one of the kingdoms of ancient Yemen. Amongst the richest and most influential of the ancient South Arabian kingdoms, Qataban derived its immense wealth from the trade of spices, frankincense, and myrrh. Wadi Beihan is located on the Incense trade route, and as such would have been a centre of commerce.

he committed to the protection of Anbay his sons ʿm[…

Anbay was worshipped in Qataban as a god of justice, and as an attendant to Qataban’s chief deity, the moon god Amm. The profusion of inscriptions that have been discovered in the area suggests the Qatabanians were a highly literate society. This inscription was acquired by E. F. Stonehouse in Aden, prior to 17 May 1968. He states that whilst stationed in Aden, which was under British administration from 1839 – 1967, he visited the archaeological site at Beihan. He describes how the stone fragment was removed “quite legitimately from the site on which, it is said, stood one of the temples or stopping places for the Queen of Sheba on her journey through

The text, written in the Qatabanian language, reads: ʿbdʾl bn Ḥḍrm s¹qn[y …… rṯd ʾnby bn-s¹ww ʿ(m)[… …

Which translates to: ʿbdʾl of the family Ḥḍrm dedicated […

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the Hadramut, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and so to Syria and Jerusalem.” Whilst many Qatabanian inscriptions survive, ones of this quality, with the text this clear and legible, are rare and therefore of note, highlighting as they do the elegance and aesthetic quality of the script.

A letter dated to 17th May 1968 discussing the inscription from the important scholar of pre-Islamic Arabian history and inscriptions A. F. L. Beeston survives, as does one dated 3rd May 1972 from T. C. Mitchell, who was at the time Keeper of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British Museum.

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33

CUNEIFORM TABLET Mesopotamia, Early Dynastic IIIa period, circa 2700–2500 b.c.

Clay, h : 10 cm; w : 9.4 cm publis h ed Maurice Lambert, ‘Fs Unger 33–34 22’, in In Memoriam Eckhard Unger: Beitrage zu Geschichte, Kultur und Religion des alten Orient, 1971, pp. 33–34, no. 2.

Joachim Krecher, ‘Neue Sumerische Rechtsurkunden des 3. Jahrtausends’, in Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie 63, 1973, pp. 145–271.

Francesco Pomponio, ‘La Prosopografia dei Testi Presargonici di Fara’, 1987, XV. I. J. Gelb, P. Steinkeller, and R. M. Whiting Jr, OIP 104, ‘Earliest Land Tenure Systems in the Near East: Ancient Kudurrus’, 1989–91, pp. 203–4, no. 106. reco rd ed This tablet is recorded on the CDLI, number P010068 provenance By repute, the ancient city of Shuruppak, modern day Tell Fara.

Previously in a Private Collection, France, acquired prior to the mid-1960s (according to Maurice Lambert’s 1971 publication p.27).

French art market, 2022 Spanish art market, 2022 (accompanied by Spanish export license) alr: S00219032 co nd itio n In fair condition as expected with age, broken into three large fragments in antiquity.

Staining to the breaks has been cleaned and the piece is consolidated to prevent further damage.

Selected pages from Maurice Lambert, ‘Fs Unger 33–34 22’, in In Memoriam Eckhard Unger: Beitrage zu Geschichte, Kultur und Religion des alten Orient, 1971

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Selected pages from ‘Neue Sumerische Rechtsurkunden des 3. Jahrtausends’, in Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie 63, 1973; Francesco Pomponio, ‘La Prosopografia dei Testi Presargonici di Fara’, 1987; I. J. Gelb, P. Steinkeller, and R. M. Whiting Jr, OIP 104, ‘Earliest Land Tenure Systems in the Near East: Ancient Kudurrus’, 1989–91.

A cuneiform tablet of the ‘Fara contract’ type, documenting the payments made by a buyer of a house or ‘built land’.

Cuneiform, one of the earliest known scripts, was first traced to southern Mesopotamia and the region west of the mouth of the Euphrates known as Chaldea, becoming one of the most widespread and historically significant modes of writing in the ancient Middle East. It dates to around 3,300 B.C., with the latest known example being around 94 A.D. Cuneiform (Latin, "wedge-shaped") signs were impressed rather than drawn, and developed from the simpler protocuneiform, which were pictograms.

cakes, 2 measures of fish to Heabsu and to Eurbidug the foremen. Girnibadib (IV) son of Ahuti, I.Muiab the cupbearer, I'Kigu the brewer, I.Ikginugi the scribe, I.Urabsu the [---] (V), I'Eurbidug the [---], I.Mepae, I.Kinimuzu, I.Meannedug the gardeners, I.Urinini, I.Urabsu (VI) the scribe, Epae the scribe are the witnesses.

By the Third Dynastic Period, from which this tablet dates, Sumerian culture had become highly bureaucratic, in the habit of recording everything administrative in writing.

-A copper mine, 10 loaves of bread, 10 pastries, 20 measures of cakes, 20 measures of fish (VII) to Ur Sud the schoolmaster who is the tenant of the house. 1/24 gur barley, 6 pastries, 10 measures of cakes, 10 measures of fish to Dada, the officer of the Souqs.

The translation of the tablet reads as: -17 mines 1/2 of copper for the purchase of a house measuring 1 sar 1/4 of area. 20 mines of copper (for) additional installations in constructed houses, 25 mines 1/2 of copper (and) 1 gur sesame (for) food allowances.

-Helama, He-ezen, E--lam

-A mine of wool, a piece of cloth, 4/24 gur of bread barley, 40 pastries, 5 measures of cakes, 5 measures of fish, and 1 sil of oil (III) to Ninazu and the vendors.

-Urenil the chief commissioner is the buyer of the house.

-Nammah Government

-1/24 gur of bread barley, 10 pastries, 2 measures of

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CAMPTOSAURUS SKELETON Albany County, Wyoming, USA. Late Jurassic Period, circa 154 million years ago Fossilised Bone, h : 140 cm; l : 376 cm; w : 94 cm exh ibited ‘The Gigantic Dinosaur Expo 2006’, Makuhari Messe Convention Centre, Chiba City, Japan, 2006.

Frieze Masters, London, October 2022. publis h ed Kenneth Carpenter and Peter M. Galton, ‘Geology of the Inter-Mountain West, A Photo Documentation of Bipedal Ornithischian Dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation’, Geology Of The Intermountain West, ISSN 2380–7601, Volume 5, 2018 provenance Discovered in 1996 in the Morrison Formation, Albany County, Wyoming on private land belonging to Carlin Ranch Inc., by Western Paleontological Laboratories Excavation. Site: Section 28 SE, ¼ Section 27 SW ¼, Section 34 NW ¼, all of Section 33.

ALR: S00218142 co nd itio n Approximately 80% complete, the skull, in particular, is in excellent condition (please see bone map).

Frieze Masters, London, 2022.

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Location of the find.

Bone skeleton illustrating the recoverd bones.

A near-complete skeleton of a camptosaurus, a species of small to medium-sized herbivorous dinosaurs found in western Europe and western North America that lived from the Late Jurassic Period (161.2 million to 145.5 million years ago) to the Early Cretaceous Period (145.5 million to 99.6 million years ago). It was a small to medium-sized dinosaur, usually less than twenty feet in length.

It seems likely that the Camptosaurus was not a particularly fast runner, however, it undoubtedly used the long hind legs to escape attacks from large carnivorous dinosaurs. The Camptosaurus would revert to the quadrupedal method of movement, using the fused wrist bones as support, when it was moving about slowly to feed on ferns, liverwort, and other plant life.

The front limbs were designed to bear weight rather than as arms for grasping, like most carnosaurs. As far as the hips were concerned, the pubis had a very long, narrow posterior rod reaching the end of the ischium.

In later iguanodontids, the posterior rod of the extended pubis is only about halfway down the ischium.

The lower jaw of this dinosaur was somewhat shorter than the length of the skull, this is because of the forward and downward extension of the quadrate bone on which the lower jaw articulated. A bony palate divides the mouth from the nasal passages which let

air travel to its lungs prevented suffocation while the Camptosaurus ate.

While it did not have the fully developed spiked thumbs of other iguanodontids, Camptosaurus did have the iguanodontian feature of small hooves on both its fingers and toes, indicating that it easily walked on all fours. The hind limbs were large and strong. The tibia never exceeded the femur in length. The front limbs were about two-thirds the length of the hind limbs, the normal position of the body was presumably the bipedal one, with the neck well erect. The occipital ridges of the skull projected somewhat downward rather than backward, indicating that the head was held at right angles to the backbone. The arch of the back was stiffened by a latticework of tendons which, in an ossified state and particularly in duckbilled dinosaurs, are occasionally preserved.

The camptosaurus disappeared during the Early Cretaceous period. The evolution of the hadrosaurid or duckbilled dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous resulted in a marked decline in the abundance and diversity of the iguanodontids. In fact, they mostly became extinct everywhere in the world except Western Europe where, for some reason (perhaps geographic isolation), the advanced hadrosaurids never seem to have become firmly established.

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EXTRAORDINARY PREHISTORIC BOREALOSUCHUS WILSONI Lincoln County, Wyoming, USA. Eocene, circa 55.8–48.6 million years ago Fossil, limestone, h : 1.63 cm; w : 2.13 cm reco rd ed Filming of discovery on 14 May 2019 and excavation available. provenance Discovered on 14 May 2019 at the South Clear Creek Fossil Quarry, Lewis Ranch, Lincoln County, Wyoming, USA. With signed document from the landowner. alr: S00218144 co nd itio n In excellent condition. Preserved and positioned as found, surrounded by a blue-grey limestone.

Left: Map of the Green River formation. Above: South Clear Creek.

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The ‘Borealosuchus wilsoni’ is a crocodylomorph species which roamed the Green River Formation lakes between 55.8 and 48.6 million years ago. The creature is positioned exactly as found, seemingly swimming in the bluish limestone matrix, its head pointed to the surface, three small Knightia fish dart around. The quality of the preservation is remarkable, the scutes (shield-like scales), fine bones and even the teeth all remain in their original position.

Eocene lakes which formed part of the Green River Formation (GRF). Located in modern-day Utah, Wyoming and Colorado, the GRF is one of the most important fossil sites world-wide. Now arid, it was a luxuriant lake basin teeming with life during the Eocene.

As the lakes dried with climate change, the numerous plants and animals living in the area became extinct, turning the site into the fossiliferous desert it is today.

Some of the world’s most beautiful and well-preserved fossils have been recovered from the Fossil Butte Member, and the quality of fossils originating from this loca-

This fossil originates from the Fossil Butte Member (FBM), a subdivision of Fossil Lake, one of the three

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tion is such that they have been described as “portraits”.

According to palaeontologist Lance Grande they are “snapshots of extinct life”, a statement perfectly befitting the present piece, which is full of life and realism.

Despite their form, the Borealosuchus are not actually Crocodylia – an order which comprises notably of modern-day crocodiles, alligators and caimans.

However, both seem closely related and the high degree of preservation of Borealosuchus fossils make them crucial to the scientific understanding of the evolution of crocodylomorphs. Among these, the B. wilsoni is the youngest species and undoubtedly the best known, thanks to the high level of preservation of its fossils.

The present example was recovered from the ‘bottom cap’ of the ‘18-inch layer’, one of the most celebrated localities of the FBM, particularly renowned for its bone preservation and lack of compression, producing the most spectacular, high-quality specimens.

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