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A MONUMENTAL FRAGMENTARY CYPRIOTE LIMESTONE HEAD OF A VOTARY, LATE 7TH/EARLY 6TH CENTURY B.C. | A Monumental Fragmentary Cypriote Limestone Head of a Votary
Estimate
35,000 - 45,000 GBP
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Description
- limestone
- Height 38.5 cm.
with prominent smiling mouth, high cheekbones, large nose and eyes, and wearing a helmet decorated in relief with a downturned bird over the forehead, traces of red pigment on the lips.
Provenance
General Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1832-1904)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acquired from the above between 1874-1876 (Anderson Galleries, New York, Cypriote & Classical Antiquities, Duplicates of the Cesnola & Other Collections, Sold by Order of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 30th-31st, 1928, no. 370, illus.)
Allan Frumkin, New York and Chicago, 1960s
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acquired from the above between 1874-1876 (Anderson Galleries, New York, Cypriote & Classical Antiquities, Duplicates of the Cesnola & Other Collections, Sold by Order of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 30th-31st, 1928, no. 370, illus.)
Allan Frumkin, New York and Chicago, 1960s
Literature
Christie's, New York, June 5th, 2014, no. 79, illus.
Catalogue Note
The circular base bears the number 174 painted in white on the side. The number 1419 is written in red pencil on top and on the underside of the base. The 1928 auction catalogue entry compares the present head to a related one in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 74.51.2857 (J. L. Myres, Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus, 1914, no. 1257, and A. Hermary and J. Mertens, The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art. Stone Sculpture, 2014, no. 1, pp. 28-30: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/242408).
A larger and more naturalistically carved bird of prey with outspread wings appears on another helmeted head in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 74.51.2860, described as possibly a ruler of Idalion: Hermary and Myers, op. cit., no. 23, pp. 45-46: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/242399.
The heads flanking the present one in the 1928 New York sale catalogue photograph are now in the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida, obj. nos. SN28.1755(http://emuseum.ringling.org/emuseum/objects/22269/head-male?ctx=e0c650b7-aa66-4dd9-9aa3-983b10874c1f&idx=2) and SN28.1920 (http://emuseum.ringling.org/emuseum/objects/26678/head-male?ctx=701fc722-a62e-4e50-9ae0-a176af0f6531&idx=29).
A larger and more naturalistically carved bird of prey with outspread wings appears on another helmeted head in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 74.51.2860, described as possibly a ruler of Idalion: Hermary and Myers, op. cit., no. 23, pp. 45-46: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/242399.
The heads flanking the present one in the 1928 New York sale catalogue photograph are now in the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida, obj. nos. SN28.1755(http://emuseum.ringling.org/emuseum/objects/22269/head-male?ctx=e0c650b7-aa66-4dd9-9aa3-983b10874c1f&idx=2) and SN28.1920 (http://emuseum.ringling.org/emuseum/objects/26678/head-male?ctx=701fc722-a62e-4e50-9ae0-a176af0f6531&idx=29).