It’s a busy week for Antiquities, as both Bonhams and Christie’s prepare for their auctions on October 5 and 6, respectively. In London, there are two Antiquities auctions a year – in October and April – at both auction houses. Sotheby’s has not had an Antiquities department in London since it was closed following the
1997 revelation of questionable and illegal practices that included forged provenances and looted artifacts.
Coming after a long and financially-challenging summer, this sale will set the tone for the December sales in New York. Hopefully, Antiquities will continue their trend of selling well!
Sale begins at 10:30 a.m. (5:30 a.m. EST) on Wednesday, October 5
With 531 lots, the Bonhams sale is packed to the gills, and it will be interesting to see how long the auction takes. The Bonhams web site can be quite frustrating, and, unlike Sotheby’s and Christies, Bonhams does not provide a live video feed of the auction (but you can view live results
here).
As the number of lots might suggest, there is a major difference in estimate per lot when compared to the smaller Christie’s sale, and most of the pieces have estimates under £2500. Several lots are composed of many individual pieces – such as tesserae, glass fragments, intaglios, and scarabs – and there is quite a large selection of jewelry.
The Egyptian collection is very diverse, with your typical bronze deities, stone scarabs, and glazed composition Shabtis. I quite like the Fayum portrait of a young man (
Lot 42, estimate £40,000-50,000), but he is quite weathered, and his eyes are not as piercing as in the finer examples of these portraits.
There is a rather whimsical Greek bronze sow (
Lot 71, estimate £40,000-50,000), which is carved with subtle and confident lines. Bronzes have been selling fairly well lately, so I would not be surprised if this item reached its high estimate.
There are several nice pieces of sculpture for sale, but the market has been very fickle on larger pieces recently. A Greek marble bust of a goddess (
Lot 96, estimate £100,000-150,000) is undoubtedly the star of the show, and her deeply carved eyes are very captivating. There is also a rather sweet Greek marble figure of girl holding a bird (
Lot 283, estimate £30,000-50,000) and a Roman head of an African youth carved from a dark gray marble (
Lot 128, estimate £60,000-80,000). Another star is a Roman bronze figure of a dancing Lar (a deity of the household) (
Lot 107, estimate £100,000-150,000). With inlaid silver eyes, flowing tunic, and a raised left arm, the figure exudes graceful charm and dynamic movement.
The selection of Greek vases is disappointing (typically, Sotheby’s New York has the best vase offerings), but there is the lovely Branca Vase (
Lot 282, estimate £80,000-120,000), an Apulian (South-Italian) red-figure calyx krater that depicts scenes of Hercules and Dionysus on either side. The glass selection is rather nice, and a Roman color-band blue glass flask (
Lot 205, estimate £40,000-50,000) stands out for its beautiful coloring and detail.
Some other nice pieces include Phoenician head pendants (which I have not really seen before this), several Migration Period inlaid buckles, and a few very inexpensive, but rather pleasant fresco fragments.
Sale begins at 10:30 a.m. (5:30 a.m. EST) on Thursday, October 6
Coming off a strong April sale (which made over £5.2 million, including buyer’s premium) that featured an Egyptian collection with excellent provenance (the
Empain Collection), Christie’s looks poised to make between £2.8 and £4.2 million with their October sale.
With 251 lots, the sale is significantly smaller than Bonhams. Like the April sale, there are several pieces with excellent provenances, including a nice collection of Cycladic figures from the Gabrielle Keiller (1908-88) collection. A figure attributed to the Goulandris Sculptor (
Lot 55, estimate £30,000-40,000) is in good condition – only missing its lower legs – but the other two are fragmentary: a pair of legs and a torso.
There are several excellent vases for sale, including four from a private German collection formed in the 1960s that should fetch a combined £430,000 (Lots 83-85). The nicest is an Attic red-figured pointed neck-amphora (
Lot 85, estimate £250,000-350,000) attributed to Syriskos that shows Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides. While the vase is fragmentary, the figures are named, and the detailing of the drapery and the surviving faces is quite exceptional. I have a personal fondness for trefoil-rimmed oinochoe, so an Attic black-figured, white-ground example with a scene of Apollo and Artemis (
Lot 81, estimate £25,000-35,000) is one of my favorites of the sale.
Like Bonhams, there are quite a few sculpted heads and busts featured, and it remains to be seen how they will fare in this market. Distinctive pieces include a Roman marble head of Germanicus (
Lot 120, estimate £200,000-300,000), a Greek marble head of Isis-Aphrodite (
Lot 117, estimate £35,000-45,000), and a Roman marble head of Hercules (
Lot 140, estimate £50,000-80,000).
There are some very nice bronzes available, including a stylish Egyptian alabaster and bronze ibis (
Lot 46, estimate £40,000-60,000) and a Greek bronze hydria (
Lot 76, estimate £80,000-120,000). There is also a Greek bronze bust of Dionysus (
Lot 113, estimate £7,000-10,000) that was once in the Spencer-Churchill collection.
The nicest bronze, however, is undoubtedly the Roman head of a man (
Lot 145, estimate £200,000-300,000), which is depicted with incredible realism, such as slightly oversized ears and incised pupils.
The April sale had some exquisite glass pieces, but this sale is sadly lacking. There is a large Greek colorless bowl (
Lot 204, estimate £40,000-60,000) and a Roman mosaic glass cosmetic dish (
Lot 206, estimate £10,000-15,000). Being sold among the glass objects is a stunning Roman obsidian skyphos (
Lot 205, estimate £40,000-60,000) that features an engraved design of vine and berries.
There is an interesting Hellenistic terracotta theater mask available (
Lot 112, estimate £15,000-20,000), as well as some terracotta Tanagra figures and votive body parts.
