NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s presents the spring sale of Antiquities on June 5th. Comprised of 131 lots, the sale will offer a breadth of superb works of art from the cultures of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Near East. With estimates ranging from $2,000 to $400,000, this sale includes a wide selection of objects, from glass, bronze and pottery to marble portrait busts and bronze armor, offering both new and seasoned collectors the opportunity to enhance their collections at every level. The sale is expected to realize in excess of $4 million. 

Leading the sale is an Egyptian painted wood mummy portrait of a woman, Roman period, circa 150 A.D. (estimate: $300,000-400,000). Mummy portraits from this period are among the most extraordinary artistic achievements to survive from antiquity. Created only for a few centuries, from the mid 1st century A.D. to the 3rd century A.D., these magnificent, hauntingly life-like images exemplify Roman period portraiture, serving as visual records of styles and trends. This wood panel depicts a woman of approximately 30 years of age. Most current scholarship ascribes the age of the subject in the portrait to be the age at death. She is depicted with a coiffure of center-parted curly hair pulled taut behind her ears in a manner displayed in portraits found primarily in Antinoopolis, a city founded by the Emperor Hadrian on the east bank of the Nile in Middle Egypt. 

An Egyptian painted wood mummy portrait of a woman , Roman period, circa 150 A.D. Estimate: $300,000-400,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2014.

Possibly from Antinoopolis, painted in the encaustic technique, depicting a young woman with a solemn countenance, on a cream ground, her center-parted curly hair pulled taut behind her ears, with thick arching eye brows, her almond-shaped eyes with heavy upper lids and large dark irises, her fleshy undulating lips pressed together, wearing circular gold earrings, her red tunic with a white collar or undergarment and dark clavi on each shoulder, holding a ribbon or a folded cloth in her right hand, the panel conforming to her bust, with shouldered angled cuts at each side; 15 in. (40 cm.) high  

Provenance: Private Collection, France.
Dr. and Mrs. H.J.A.M. van de Kar, Steenbergen, North Brabant, Netherlands, acquired in Paris in 1964.
Acquired by the current owner, Netherlands, 2005.

PROPERTY FROM A DUTCH PRIVATE COLLECTION

Literature: K. Parlasca, Mumienporträts und Verwandte Denkmäler, Wiesbaden, 1966, pp. 126-127, 130 and 144, pl. 31,3.
K. Parlasca and A. Adriani, Repertorio d'Arte dell'Egitto Greco-Romano, Series B, Vol. I, Tavole 1-60, Numeri 1-246, Palermo, 1969, p. 66, no. 143, pl. 34,4.
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden, Klassieke Kunst uit Particulier Bezit: Nederlandse Verzamelingen, 1575-1975, Leiden, 1975, no. 944, fig. 385.
F.L. Bastet, Bulletin Antieke Beschaving, Vol. 50, Leiden, 1975, p. 45, no. 944, fig. 118.
H.L.M. Defoer, E.A. van Dijk and C. Convent, Ikonen: uit Noord-Rusland, uit Nederlands bezit, Zwolle Waanders, 1992, no. U-1.
B. Borg, Mumienporträts: Chronologie und kultureller Kontext, Mainz am Rhien, 1996, pp. 58, 123 (fn. 70), and 163 (fn. 98).
K. Parlasca and H.G. Frenz, Ritratti di Mummie: Repertorio d'Arte dell'Egitto Greco-Romano, Series B, Vol. IV, Tavole 159-202, Numeri 675-1028, Palermo, 2003, p. 140, no. 143.

Exhibited: Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden,Klassieke Kunst uit Particulier Bezit: Nederlandse Verzamelingen, 1575-1975, 15 May - 13 July 1975.
Utrecht, Rijksmuseum Het Catharijneconvent, Ikonen: uit Noord-Rusland, uit Nederlands bezit, 1992.

Roman Period mummy portraits are among the most extraordinary artistic achievements to survive from antiquity. These magnificent, hauntingly-lifelike portraits were painted on wood usually in the encaustic technique, as here, but sometimes in tempera. Each wood panel was then positioned over the head of the mummy and wrapped in place. While such portraits have been found throughout Egypt, they were discovered most prominently in the Fayum, thus lending the nomenclature for the entire genre, which is often referred to as "Fayum portraits." Created only for a few centuries, from the mid 1st century A.D. to the 3rd century A.D., these painted likenesses exemplify Roman period portraiture, serving as visual records of styles and trends fashionable from decade to decade and region to region.
This panel depicts a woman of approximately 30 years of age. Most current scholarship ascribes the age of the subject in the portrait to be the age at death. She is depicted with a coiffure of center-parted curly hair pulled taut behind her ears in a manner displayed in portraits found primarily in Antinoopolis, a city founded by the Emperor Hadrian on the east bank of the Nile in Middle Egypt. The portraits from this region are interpreted as illustrating an austerity of fashion and facial expression, reflecting Greek notions of dress and social behavior favored by the philhellenic Hadrian; see, for example, pp. 105ff. and nos. 100-101 in S. Walker and M. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces, Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt. See also no. 21, p. 216 in E. Doxiadis, The Mysterious Fayum Portraits, Faces from Ancient Egypt. 

Notes: Also among the top lots of the sale is a colossal Cypriot limestone male head from the Archaic Period, which once resided in the collection of Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the first Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (estimate: $80,000-120,000). Cesnola immigrated to the United States in the late 1850s and was later appointed to a consulship as a U.S. representative to Cyprus. He spent his time in Cyprus overseeing excavations and building an unprecedented collection of Cypriot antiquities, which was later sold to the recently-founded Metropolitan Museum of Art. The present work was carved circa late 7th-early 6th century B.C., when local artisans had established a high level sculptural style in limestone, born from influences from their Greek, Phoenician and Egyptian contemporaries. Sculptures of bearded figures, such as the present example, were likely depictions of priests or dignitaries that were erected as votaries. 

The Cycladic marble reclining female figure is one of the most iconic sculpture types surviving from antiquity. The work of unknown sculptors of the 3rd millennium B.C. (estimate: $200,000-300,000). Most excavated examples come from graves, but only comparatively few graves have yielded such figures, indicating the high status of their original owners. It is not known what meaning these simple and minimal marble figures had in antiquity or even if they ever served a function prior to their entombment. The modern rediscovery of Cycladic sculpture occurred in the 19th century, when figures were collected by travelers, some soon finding their way to museums such as the Louvre and the British Museum. Cycladic sculpture had a tremendous influence on the Modernist movement; they inspired many of the 20th century’s top artists, such as Modigliani, Brancusi, Moore and Picasso. 

A Cycladic Marble Reclining Female Figure. Early Spedos Variety, Early Cycladic II, circa 2600-2500 B.C. Estimate: $200,000-300,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2014.

The lyre-shaped head with a slender, well-centered nose, the neck elongated, the shoulders sloping, with small breasts, the arms folded right below left, the inguinal lines of the incised pubic triangle bisected by the upper end of the deep cleft which divides the legs, denoting the genitalia, the spine delineated by a shallow groove, the feet angled down, the toes articulated; 10 in. (25.4 cm.) high.

Provenance: with N. Koutoulakis, Paris, 1976. 

PROPERTY FROM A FRENCH PRIVATE COLLECTION

Notes: The folded-arm female figure from the Bronze Age Cyclades is one of the most iconic sculptural types to have survived from antiquity. The schematic treatment of the human body, where the human form was reduced to its barest essentials, was brilliantly conceived by these unknown sculptors of the 3rd millennium B.C. Most excavated examples come from graves, but only comparatively few graves have yielded such figures, indicating the high status of their original owners. It is not known what meaning these marble figures had in antiquity or even if they ever served a function prior to their entombment.

The modern rediscovery of Cycladic sculpture occurred in the 19th century, when figures were collected by travelers, some soon finding their way to museums such as the Louvre and the British Museum. Cycladic sculpture had a tremendous influence on the Modernist movement; they inspired many of the 20th century's top artists, such as Modigliani. A nearly lifesized head of a Cycladic figure, thought to be from Keros, was acquired by the Louvre in 1873, which no doubt influenced Brancusi (see P. Getz-Gentle, Ancient Art of the Cyclades, p. 17). Moore and Picasso owned Cycladic objects. Picasso is known to have remarked that his Cycladic idol was "stronger than Brancusi." 

A Roman Marble Portrait Head of the Emperor Augustus, circa late 1st century B.C. – early 1st century A.D., will also be offered on June 5 (estimate: $200,000-250,000). This spectacular over-lifesized portrait depicts the Emperor with his characteristic features; including his strong cheekbones, a fleshy bow-shaped mouth, and unarticulated convex almond-shaped eyes. The three comma-shaped locks parted at the center of Augustus’ forehead, as seen here, are characteristic of the Primaporta portrait type, recognized on the famous example found at the villa of his wife Livia at Primaporta, now in the Vatican Museums. The Emperor is presented as a powerful and determined military man, who we continue to celebrate two millennia after his reign. 

A Roman Marble Portrait Head of the Emperor Augustus, circa late 1st century B.C. – early 1st century A.D. Estimate: $200,000-250,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2014.

Over-lifesized, depicted with finely-modelled features, his oval face with strong cheekbones, the fleshy bow-shaped mouth with the lips pressed together, dimpled at the corners, the philtrum indicated, the naso-labial folds subtly portrayed, his almond-shaped convex eyes unarticulated and slightly recessed, two small diagonal lines extending above the bridge of his nose accentuating his knitted brow, a single shallow crease across the broad forehead, the layered hair composed of a mass of short comma-shaped locks, with the three characteristic locks at the center of his forehead, two parted at the center and one to his right, a single lock curving forward before each ear; 12½ in. (31.8 cm.) high .

Provenance: Enrico Serranti and Giovanna LoMoro, New York and New Jersey, acquired in 1981.
with Fortuna Fine Arts, New York, 1999.
Antiquities, Christie's, New York, 8 June 2004, lot 57.

THE PROPERTY OF A WEST COAST COLLECTOR

Notes: The first Roman emperor, Augustus was born Gaius Octavius in Rome in 63 B.C., the grand-nephew of Julius Caesar. He entered public life in the capital as a young man and was adopted posthumously by Caesar as his heir, expanding his name to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. When Caesar was deified, Octavian became divi filius. After Octavian defeated Antony at Actium in 31 B.C., his rule became uncontested. In 27 B.C. he received the title Augustus, celebrating him as princeps or First Citizen, a military victor, the arbiter of peace, and the restorer of Roman values. In 12 B.C. Augustus was named Pontifex Maximus, bestowing upon him leadership of Roman religion in addition to his command of the state. In 2 B.C. he earned the title pater patriae. Augustus died 2000 years ago this year, on 9 August 14 A.D. He was divinized three days after his death.

Augustus was portrayed with youthful features throughout his reign, even toward the end of his illustrious seventy-six years. As D.E.E. Kleiner explains (p. 62 in Roman Sculpture), "In life, Augustus grew old, but in his portraits he never aged. ... The portraiture of Augustus is political portraiture that is comprised of calculated imperial images rather than likenesses of the individual."

The three comma-shaped locks parted at the center of Augustus' forehead, such as we have here, are characteristic of the Primaporta portrait type, recognized on the famous example found at the villa of his wife Livia at Primaporta, now in the Vatican Museums. Similar, too, are the furrowed and knitted brow on the present example. The Emperor is presented as a powerful and determined military man. For a discussion on the varying portrait types of Augustus see pp. 61-69 in Kleiner, op. cit.