Lot 22A
Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. An elegant bronze patera, featuring a hammered hemispherical bowl and a cast handle terminating in the curved head and neck of a swan. Strap-like in form, the flattened handle attenuates at the center and then culminates in the sweeping slender neck of a broad-billed swan. Scrolling incised designs adorn the top side of the handle, almost appearing as plumed wings folded at the back of the graceful avian, and additional incised palmette motifs embellish the underside, all accentuating the intricacy and opulence of the piece. In ancient times, a patera would have been used to serve food and drink at symposia/dinner parties or as is an offering dish to pour libations of wine and other liquids at religious ceremonies. An example like this one, with such high quality bronze and an ornate zoomorphic head finial, was most likely used in rituals. Size: 13.4" L x 7.95" W x 2.25" H (34 cm x 20.2 cm x 5.7 cm)
The swan played a complex role in Greek and Roman mythology - as an attribute of Venus/Aphrodite and Apollo, said to sing a song of unearthly beauty as it dies, and as the form assumed by Zeus to ravish Leda, mother of Helen of Troy.
See a comparable example in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1989.281.87)
Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-Dr. Martin Peretz collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, acquired in the 1980s
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#145228
- Condition: Handle has been reattached, with restoration of the bronze where it meets the body and in some small areas around the rim of the bowl. Handle itself is in very nice condition, and vessel has an overall excellent presentation with dark patina throughout.
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| $1,000 | $1,999 | $100 |
| $2,000 | $4,999 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $9,999 | $500 |
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| $100,000 | $199,999 | $10,000 |
| $200,000 + | $20,000 |