LOUISVILLE, CO — An ancient Greek ring with a provenance that includes Prince Stanislas Poniatowski, William Beckford, and a Seagram heiress sold for $30,000 ($38,250 with buyer’s premium) at Artemis Gallery on August 2. The 2nd to 1st century BC intaglio in a later octagonal gold setting was part of a large collection of Greek, Etruscan, Roman, and Renaissance-era gems assembled in the 1960s by Montreal collector Marjorie Bronfman (1917-2012).

The ring is described in the infamous catalog of 2,601 classical intaglios collected by Prince Stanislas Poniatowski (1754-1833). In his lifetime, this nephew of the king of Poland was thought to own a peerless collection of Greek and Roman originals. However, in one of the great art scandals of its day, it emerged after his death that – while some gems, like this one, were ancient – most were copies produced by leading Grand Tour hardstone engravers. The Poniatowski collection was sold at a Christie’s auction in 1839 and has since been widely dispersed.

This calcified carnelian gem, carved in the Mediterranean at the time of the ancient Greeks, depicts the figure of a wounded man limping and leaning on a stick. He is Philoctetes, and the treasure he carries under his arm is the bow and the quiver of arrows given to him by the demigod Heracles.

By repute, the ring was owned and worn late in life by the famous English writer and antiquary William Beckford (1760-1844). Certainly, it was published twice in German catalogs in the early 20th century and is recorded in the University of Oxford’s Beazley Archive. It was acquired by Marjorie Bronfman in March 1966 and was later given to her daughter Dr. Corinne Bronfman (1947-2022) of Washington, DC. The estimate was $5,000-$7,500.

Across several sales in August, Artemis Gallery sold at total of 180 pieces from the collection, following in the wake of a Christie’s New York Antiquities sale on April 9, when nearly 60 Bronfman gems were offered.