< Previous9A BULL’S HEAD FIBULA L. 3.6 cm. Bronze, solid cast. Celtic, 2nd–1st cent. B.C. CHF 600 A powerful bull’s head emerges from one end of the S-shaped fibula. Its long muzzle rests on the bow of the fibula. The eyes and one end of the horn accentuated by slightly domed circles. A flat surface at the end of the bow and at the neck of the bull for attachment to the now lost pin. The reverse of one horn restored, the end of the other horn slightly worn. Cloak pin of the curved fibulae type. Formerly English art market, 2019. Fibulae in the shape of animal’s heads with the muzzle resting on the bow of the fibula are typical of Celtic art. Cf. older animal’s head fibulae: H. Dannheimer-R. Gebhard, Das keltische Jahrtausend, cat. Rosenheim (Mainz 1993) 319 f., nos. 396 b, 397 b. with illus. For the style of the bull’s head, cf. fittings from elaborately decorated chariots and andirons, ibid., 327 f., 352, nos. 422 b, 483 with illus.10A STAG APPLIQUE L. 5.8 cm. Bronze, solid cast. Siberian Steppe People, Tagar Culture (?), 5th–3rd cent. B.C. CHF 2,200 This applique of a stag standing to right is partly crafted in openwork technique and once adorned a bridle or garment. The magnificent, branched antlers arch over the back and touch the rump. The thighs of the strong body are visibly moulded. Notches accentuate eyes, pointed oval ears, mouth and hooves. The smooth reverse is slightly recessed at belly and leg level for application to a fabric or leather. Intact. Formerly priv. coll. Mr. Ben Taylor, Austria. Thereafter priv. coll. Oliver Vit, Basel, collecting period 2000–2019, acquired from Archaeo Gallery, Australia, 26.9.2009. For the style with pointed oval ear, deeply engraved eyelids, grooved mouth and branched antlers, cf. a figurine of a stag, appliques with stags and a plaque with a wild donkey from the Tagar Culture: B. Piotrovsky et al., Or des Scythes. Trésor des musées soviétiques (Paris 1975) 189 ff., nos. 164, 171–172, 175 with illus.11A RARE GEOMETRIC KANTHAROS WITH GRAZING STAG H. with handles 10.7 cm. Clay, brown matt glaze. Attic, Late Geometric, late 8th–early 7th cent. B.C. CHF 16,000 Wide drinking vessel with high strap handles. Interior of rim profiled, offset base. Shoulder with registers formed by vertical and zigzag lines. Side A: Grazing stag in silhouette manner with plenty of free space around it. Side B: Wheel with spokes and crosses. Crosses, zigzags and a swastika as filling ornaments. Belly and foot with encircling lines. Diagonal crosses with dots on the handles. Concentric circles in the interior. Partially fired to a reddish hue. A small fissure sealed, a few surface losses partially filled, minor retouches in colour. Formerly priv. coll. London, acquired in the 1960s. Thence by descent. The decoration is remarkably similar to Boeotian and Euboean vase painting. - For the vessel’s shape and airy distribution of the decorative elements, and a wheel with spokes as main motif, cf. a kantharos in Berlin, Staatliche Museen, inv. no. 31054, Beazley Archive Pottery Database no. 9026054. For the wheel with spokes and filling ornaments, cf. a slightly earlier pyxis in the British Museum, London, inv. no. 1910,1121.1 and a Boeotian kantharos in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. no. CA1987. For related animals and floating filling ornaments, cf. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 74.51.965 (Euboean) and Louvre, inv. no. CA3304 (all online).12A FRAGMENT OF AN OINOCHOE WITH ANTELOPES AND SWANS H. 20.5 cm. Clay. Attic, Late Geometric, last quarter 8th cent. B.C. CHF 5,600 A fragment of a large oinochoe with both figural and geometric decoration. One of the metopes on the shoulder with two recumbent antelopes with long horns and delicate legs tucked beneath them. A wider band around the belly with a figural panel showing two swans confronting one another, and a smaller one standing between. Zigzags, cross-hatched triangles and dotted rosettes in the interstices. Further ornamental panels. Two nipple- shaped lugs at the shoulder. Old inv. no. “PHB 003” in the interior. Reassembled from three fragments. Part of surface abraded. Formerly priv. coll. Emmanuel Ségrédakis (1898–1948), dealer between 1920–1930 in Paris, acquired in the late 1930s in Paris. Thence by descent until 2010 with Emmanuel Koutoulakis, Paris. Thereafter, priv. coll. Blanconnier, Paris. For the use of lines, registers and metopes to structure the decoration, and antelopes and swans, cf. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Antikensammlung Berlin, vol. 10 (Munich 2009) 60 f, pls. 30,4, 31. For the animals, cf. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, The British Museum, vol. 11 (London 2010) 24, pls. 32–33, 46–47.13A VESSEL SUPPORT WITH HORSE H. 10 cm. Bronze. Italic, probably Etruscan, Orientalizing Period, 1st half 7th cent. B.C. CHF 1,200 Front half of a support that was originally crafted in part in openwork technique. Together with two other supports it formed a tripod which once carried a bronze basin. The upper section in the shape of a horse, the head and neck of which are preserved; the lower section in the shape of a human leg and foot. Parts of the surface slightly corroded. A few bluish azurite deposits. Formerly priv. coll. A. L., Baselland, collecting period ca. 1960s–2000. For a complete basin with three openwork supports in the shape of horses with riders, cf. S. Haynes, Etruscan Bronzes (London 1985) 133, 247, cat. no. 6.Next >