Apollo offers artifacts from the ancient world as well as Chinese and Islamic art Jan. 28-29

Roman marble head of Harpocrates, circa 2nd century AD, with a starting bid of £20,000 ($25,470) at Apollo Art Auctions.

LONDON – The sale of Fine Ancient Art & Antiquities at Apollo Art Auctions on Sunday, January 28 is headed by the Prince collection – a private assemblage of more than 150 pieces of Neolithic, Egyptian, Hittite, Greco-Roman, and Near Eastern art. Formed from the 1990s through 2014, most pieces were acquired through leading European dealers. It will be followed on Monday, January 29 by a Chinese and Islamic Art auction. The catalogs for both are now available for bidding at LiveAuctioneers.

A pleasing selection of Egyptian faience fragments and inlays includes two large foundation tiles believed to have come from the Pi-Ramesses palace in Qantir. Each is decorated in black with an inscribed cartouche, one carrying the prenomen and the other the nomen of Ramesses the Great. Similar to an example at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the tiles were part of a Belgian private collection prior to joining the Prince collection. The starting bid is £8,000 ($10,190).

Several shards on offer were those collected by the Victorian Egyptologist Rev. William MacGregor (1848–1937). His collection, which formed part of an exhibition at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1895, was later dispersed, with these pieces sold through the Parisian works of art dealer Joseph Altounian (1890-1954). An opening bid of £1,000 ($1,270) is invited for a New Kingdom 18th Dynasty green and yellow inlay in the form of a lotus flower.

Also featured are two 19th Dynasty rosette inlays once owned by Daniel Marie Fouquet (1850-1921), a French doctor who lived in Cairo and whose collection of antiquities was dispersed at the Drouot in Paris in 1922. The lot is estimated at £6,000-£9,000 ($7,610-$11,410).

From another source is a Roman marble head of Harpocrates – the Hellenistic god of silence, secrets and confidentiality. This model, dated to around the 2nd century AD, depicts him with youthful and expressive features, including a subtle, enigmatic smile. It has an ownership history from before the 1960s and most recently appeared at auction in 2018 at Bonhams. Apollo has assigned a starting bid of £20,000 ($25,470).

One of the finest examples of ancient armor offered by Apollo director Dr. Ivan Bonchev since the firm was founded in 2010 is a Roman bronze Weisenau, or Imperial, helmet. The form — the final evolutionary stage of the legionary helmet — is distinctive for its mushroom-shape peak, a massive visor with a serrated edge, as well as its contoured neck guard and hinged cheek pieces. The helmet’s provenance includes successive European private collections, including the Charles Delaporte collection in the 1960s. It will open at £30,000 ($38,165).

More than 100 pieces of ancient jewelry are headed by a circa-3rd century BC Greek Hellenistic gold finger ring engraved with a portrait of Zeus, and a Ptolemaic gold finger ring set with a carnelian intaglio engraved with a crocodile. Given starting bids of £10,000 ($12,725) and £3,000 ($3,815) respectively, both were recently in a London private collection.

A fine selection of classical pottery includes a late 4th or 3rd century BC Attic red-figure bell krater with Dionysiac decoration attributed to the Telos Painter – it has a starting bid of £8,000 ($10,190) – while leading a group of Chinese terracotta figures is a model of a recumbent, braying Bactrian camel offered with a thermoluminescence test dating it to the Tang period (618-907 AD). Acquired in Hong Kong in the 1990s, it has a starting bid of £3,000 ($3,815).

As stated above, on Monday, January 29, Apollo will also hold a sale titled Fine Chinese & Islamic Art. Of particular note are several examples of Kangxi (1662-1722) blue and white porcelain, with bidding for a pair of square section vases decorated with scenes of ladies admiring flowers in jardineres opening at £5,000 ($6,350).

Roman marble head of Harpocrates, circa 2nd century AD, with a starting bid of £20,000 ($25,470) at Apollo Art Auctions.

Roman marble head of Harpocrates, circa 2nd century AD, with a starting bid of £20,000 ($25,470) at Apollo Art Auctions.

Two large Egyptian New Kingdom faience foundation tiles carrying the prenomen and nomen of Ramesses II, with a starting bid of £8,000 ($10,190) at Apollo Art Auctions.

Two large Egyptian New Kingdom faience foundation tiles carrying the prenomen and nomen of Ramesses II, with a starting bid of £8,000 ($10,190) at Apollo Art Auctions.

Late 4th or 3rd century BC Attic red-figure bell krater, decorated on one side with a Dionysiac scene attributed to the Telos Painter, having a starting bid of £8,000 ($10,190) at Apollo Art Auctions.

Late 4th or 3rd century BC Attic red-figure bell krater, decorated on one side with a Dionysiac scene attributed to the Telos Painter, having a starting bid of £8,000 ($10,190) at Apollo Art Auctions.

Monumental Greek Hellenistic gold finger ring with a portrait of Zeus, circa early 3rd century BC, with a starting bid of £10,000 ($12,725) at Apollo Art Auctions.

Monumental Greek Hellenistic gold finger ring with a portrait of Zeus, circa early 3rd century BC, with a starting bid of £10,000 ($12,725) at Apollo Art Auctions.

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell is editor of Auction Central News and deputy editor at Antiques Trade Gazette. He has been writing about all aspects of the art and antiques market for more than 25 years.

Ancient Egyptian shabti leads five-day antiquities sale at Timeline Dec. 5-9

Ancient Egyptian faience shabti for the 21st Dynasty princess Nesitanebisheru from the Deir el-Bahari cache, estimated at £25,000-£35,000 ($30,700-$43,000) at Timeline Auctions.

HARWICH, U.K. – An ancient Egyptian shabti from the famous Deir el-Bahari cache comes for sale at Timeline Auctions in an event spanning Tuesday, December 5 through Saturday, December 9. The blue faience shabti from the tomb of the 21st Dynasty princess Nesitanebisheru is estimated at £25,000-£35,000 ($30,700-$43,000) as part of the five-day sale devoted to antiquities (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5).

The so-called Deir el-Bahari hoard was discovered in a settlement near Thebes in 1870. Found together in this single chamber were the mummies and funerary equipment of dozens of ancient Egyptian elites, seemingly reburied by priests to hide them from tomb robbers. DNA analysis has subsequently shown that the bodies of the great pharaohs Thutmose III and Ramesses II were among them.

This is one of the many faience ‘worker’ shabtis (burial figures) that was interred with the princess Nesitanebisheru. The daughter of Pinudjem II, a high priest of Amun, and his principal wife Neskhons, she lived circa 980-935 BCE during the 21st Dynasty and the tumultuous era known to Egyptologists as the Third Intermediate Period.

The shabtis that accompanied her to the afterlife were each inscribed in black with columns of hieroglyphic text outlining the duties they would need to perform ‘for the Osiris Nesitanebisheru.’ In this case, the spell tasks the shabti with the moving of soil and the cultivating and irrigating of fields.

The shabti was acquired by the European vendor at the Zurich Antiquities Fair from the Geneva dealership R. Liechti.

Another item imported to the U.K. from continental Europe for sale is a marble head dated to the 2nd-3rd century CE. Unlike many Roman portrait fragments that appear at auction, this does not glorify a goddess or an emperor and instead depicts a Germanic ‘barbarian.’ It was possibly from a relief representing prisoners of war, perhaps part of a monument commemorating the campaigns of Marcus Aurelius along the lower Danube, recorded on his famous column in Piazza Colonna, Rome.

Modeled naturalistically in the round, his face is framed by voluminous short curls, sideburns and a mustache. The head was in a Swiss private collection before it was sold by Christie’s in 2013, and it is now estimated at £25,000-£35,000 ($30,700-$43,000).

From Hellenistic Greece is a silver strainer estimated at £15,000-£20,000 ($18,400-$24,500). Elaborate strainers of this type with handles fashioned with swan head terminals were used at symposia and festive occasions in the 4th and 3rd century CE for filtering out sediments in wine.

Examples similar to this have been found in royal tombs in northern Greece. This example was last sold at Christie’s, New York in 2012 and previously resided in a German private collection.

Estimated at £4,000-£6,000 ($4,900-$7,300) are the plates from a 12th or 13th century klivanion. The 138 iron elements would have been interlaced and attached to an undergarment to form a compact cuirass. The lamellar protection was particularly effective when used by mounted troops as it provided not just protection but enabled free movement due to its loose construction. This survivor comes from a vendor in London and was acquired by his grandfather sometime before the early 1970s.

Ancient Egyptian faience shabti for the 21st Dynasty princess Nesitanebisheru from the Deir el-Bahari cache, estimated at £25,000-£35,000 ($30,700-$43,000) at Timeline Auctions.

Ancient Egyptian faience shabti for the 21st Dynasty princess Nesitanebisheru from the Deir el-Bahari cache, estimated at £25,000-£35,000 ($30,700-$43,000) at Timeline Auctions.

Roman marble head of a barbarian dated to the 2nd-3rd century CE, estimated at £25,000-£35,000 ($30,700-$43,000) at Timeline Auctions.

Roman marble head of a barbarian dated to the 2nd-3rd century CE, estimated at £25,000-£35,000 ($30,700-$43,000) at Timeline Auctions.

Hellenistic silver wine strainer with swan head terminals dated to the 4th and 3rd century BCE, estimated at £15,000-£20,000 ($18,400-$24,500) at Timeline Auctions.

Hellenistic silver wine strainer with swan head terminals dated to the 4th and 3rd century BCE, estimated at £15,000-£20,000 ($18,400-$24,500) at Timeline Auctions.

Byzantine or Eastern European 12th or 13th century armor plates from a klivanion, estimated at £4,000-£6,000 ($4,900-$7,300) at Timeline Auctions.

Byzantine or Eastern European 12th or 13th century armor plates from a klivanion, estimated at £4,000-£6,000 ($4,900-$7,300) at Timeline Auctions.

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell is editor of Auction Central News and deputy editor at Antiques Trade Gazette. He has been writing about all aspects of the art and antiques market for more than 25 years.

Ancient Egyptian faience hippo is hungry for bidder attention at Hindman, May 25

Detail of Egyptian faience hippopotamus, estimated at $40,000-$60,000
Egyptian faience hippopotamus, estimated at $40,000-$60,000
Egyptian faience hippopotamus, Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, 1991-1783 B.C., estimated at $40,000-$60,000

CHICAGO – Hindman’s Antiquities & Ancient Art auction on Thursday, May 25 will feature more than 240 objects from the ancient Mediterranean world. From an Egyptian faience hippopotamus to a large Cycladic marble head, this auction features a selection of ancient works that will appeal to a wide range of collectors. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

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