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Lot 76*

A Greek polychrome terracotta antefix

28 November 2017, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£3,500 - £4,500

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A Greek polychrome terracotta antefix
Possibly Sicily, circa early 5th Century B.C.
Depicting in low relief a head of a gorgon, the mouth open in a grimace with the tongue lolling out, a row of curly hair across the forehead, a coronet above, with snakes curling around the face, painted details in dark ochre and black, 17.5cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
Private US collection, acquired in New York in 1970.
Anonymous sale; Pierre Bergé, Paris, 26 May 2011, lot 304.

Due to their apotropaic function, gorgons were often used as the subject in the decoration of Greek temples; for example, a gorgon appears in the pediment of the temple of Artemis in Corfu, dated to the beginning of the 6th Century B.C.. Gorgons are also depicted in numerous examples of terracotta antefixes from Sicily - see W. Hornbostel, Aus Gräbern und Heiligtümern. Die Antikensammlung Walter Kropatscheck, Mainz, 1980, p. 175, no. 103.

Additional information

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