Important Seal Collection at Gorny & Mosch’s July Auction

Accompanying Auction 305 at Gorny & Mosch in Munich, a splendid print catalogue has been published. On 16 July 2024, more than 580 lots will be auctioned off in the company’s auction room starting at 2 pm. The highlight of the auction is a bronze Oceanus lamp (lot No. 103) from the Shlomo Moussaeiff Collection. In addition, the important Dr K.-F. Schaedler Collection with African art will be on offer, comprising 100 fascinating pieces. Another highlight is a collection of stamp seals and cylinder seals, as well as Minoan seals from a Hessian private collection with good provenances, most of which have been published. In the sections Ancient Near East and Asia, collectors will encounter many fascinating pieces from the Dr Klaus Marquardt Collection. The offer at a glance:

• Vases: 47 lots
• Terracotta: 16 lots
• Stone sculptures: 17 lots
• Bronze sculptures: 11 lots
• Instruments: 13 lots
• Lamps: 14 lots
• Jewellery: 40 lots
• Cameos, gems, seals: 70 lots
• Glass objects: 37 lots
• North Africa: 23 lots
• Ancient Near East: 44 lots
• Pre- and Protohistory: 7 lots
• Byzantium: 3 lots
• Icons: 10 lots
• Pre-Columbian America: 37 lots
• Asia: 46 lots
• -F. Schaedler Collection Africa: 100 lots
• Africa: 2 lots
• In the style of classical antiquity – Pasticci: 47 lots

In the public room auction on 16 July 2024, lot No. 1 to 593 will be auctioned off starting at 2 pm.

Lot No. 64

Torso of a cuirassed statue, 2nd half of the 2nd century A.D. White, fine crystalline marble. H 71cm. Under-life size. Semi-circular indentation at the base of the neck, used to attach an insert head. Both arms broken at the upper arms, the legs below the hem of the garment. The clothing consists of a short-sleeved tunic and an anatomical cuirass, with a Gorgon’s head on the chest. A ribbed military belt, called a cingulum, is tied around the waist. The round flaps at the bottom of the cuirass are decorated with various motifs, including an elephant’s head, a ram’s head, a palmette and a helmet. Fragmentary. Minimal bumps and traces of sinter.

A highly similar pieces is in Berlin’s Collection of Classical Antiquities, Inv. Sk 1799: K. Stemmer, Untersuchungen zur Typologie, Chronologie und Ikonographie der Panzerstatuen, 1978, p. 169 No. 76; Arachne ID 1062487.

Provenance: Ex Mr Oscar Tomlinson, London 1962; ex Mr Clarence Slater, London 1969; ex Mr Sebastian Davis, London 1977; ex Mr Georg Förster, London 1987; ex. Mr Julien Vanhove, Brussels 1995; ex. Mr Foort Molenaar, Liège 2003; purchased from Mr Isai Dam, Brussels, 2011.

Estimate: 60,000 euros

Lot No. 90

Attic type iron helmet. Hellenistic, Eastern Mediterranean, 300 – 250 B.C. H 14cm, W 19.5 cm, L 24 cm. Beaten sheet iron. Round shape with flanged visor and volutes. Pressed flat on top of the skull. Holes at the sides for cheekpieces, now missing. Professionally restored with small filled up areas. Cheekpieces and the outer edge of the neck guard missing.

Cf. R. Hixenbaugh, Ancient Greek Helmets. A complete Guide and Catalog (2019) p. 516, No. H114; Ol. Symonenko, Sarmatian-aged Helmets from Eastern Europe, in: P. B. Golden, R. K. Kovalev, A. P. Martinez, J. Skaff, A. Zimonyi (eds.); ARCHIVUM EURASIAE MEDII AEVI, Festschrift for Thomas T. Allsen in Celebration of His 75th Birthday (2015) p. 277 – 303; Antike Helme. Sammlung Lipperheide und andere Bestände des Antikenmuseums Berlins (1988) p.446, No. 53.

Helmets of this type were used from the late 4th until the mid-2nd century BC. Ancient depictions of these helmets can also be found on the friezes of the Pergamon Altar (after 180 BC), the frieze of the Monument of Aemilius Paullus at Delphi (168 BC), on coins of Seleucus II Callinicus (246-226 BC) and on Parthian clay warrior sculptures from ancient Nisa.

Provenance: Ex estate of H.G. Jansen, Netherlands, purchased ca. 1974/1975 in the antiquities trade in Antwerp, Belgium.

Estimate: 12,000 euros

Lot No. 128

Pair of gold earrings with boat-shaped pendants. Hellenistic, 2nd half of the 4th century BC. 44g, L 8.2cm, ø disc 2.5cm. Circular disc with elaborate rosettes on the obverse and a hook on the smooth reverse. A boat-shaped pendant is attached to the hook. Its obverse is covered with granules and the reverse is decorated with gold-wire tendrils. Small rosettes at the tips of the boats, in the centre a palmette with volutes. Small rosettes at the bottom of the boat-shaped pendants, foxtail chains with acorns and spindles attached. Splendid earrings! Gold! Restored, one granule missing, otherwise intact.

Cf. C. Adams (ed.), Greek Jewellery from the Benaki Museum Collections (1999) p.190 f., img. 133; M. Pfrommer, Untersuchungen zur Chronologie Früh- und Hochhellenistischen Goldschmucks (1990) p. 197 ff. B. Deppert-Lippitz, Griechischer Goldschmuck (1985) p. 181f., fig. 129.

Provenance: Ex A.N. Collection, Munich, since before 1999.

Estimate: 10,000 euros

Lot No. 517

Male Ancestor figure singiti. Hemba, D. R. Congo. H 58cm. With beard, arms carved free of the body, typical cross-shaped coiffure, and hands placed on the thighs (Inv. No. 8.705). Exhibited and published! Blackish glossy patina, legs heavily damaged by termites, minor restoration backside.

Exhibited: 4e Salon International d‘Art Tribal, Paris, 14 – 17 September 2001; Arts-Kunst: Primitifs / Primitive / Primitieve Brussels, Belgium, 20 – 21 June 1991.

Published: K.-F. Schaedler, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture (2009) p.270; 4e Salon international d’Art Tribal Exhibition catalogue Paris 2001, p.25; Arts-Kunst: Primitifs / Primitive / Primitieve Exhibition catalogue Brussels (1991).

Provenance: Ex Sotheby’s New York, African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art, 7 May 2016, lot No. 31 (not sold); ex Neumeister München Auktion Sammlung/Collection Dr Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler, 14 October 2009, lot No. 31 (not sold); ex Dr Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler Collection since 2009; before Jo Christiaens Collection, Brussels, 2001-2009; ex Alain Guisson Coll., Brussels, 2001-1991.

Estimate: 12,000 euros

E-Auction 17 July 2024

Multiple lots (No. 584-970) and literature (No. 971-989) will be offered on 17 July 2024 in an electronic sale starting at 2 pm.

Viewing

The viewing takes place at Gorny & Mosch, Maximiliansplatz starting immediately on the following dates: Monday – Friday, 10 am – 1 pm and 2:30 pm – 6 pm by prior appointment.

The catalogue for auction 305 can be ordered at Gorny & Mosch, Giessener Münzhandlung, Maximiliansplatz 20, 80333 Munich, Germany, phone: +49 (0)89 24 22 643-0, fax +49 (0)89 22 85 513.