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A Sardinian bronze boat-shaped lamp image 1
A Sardinian bronze boat-shaped lamp image 2
A Sardinian bronze boat-shaped lamp image 3
Property from the Michel Holley Collection (lots 1-9)
Lot 3

A Sardinian bronze boat-shaped lamp

1 December 2020, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£6,000 - £8,000

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A Sardinian bronze boat-shaped lamp
Nuragic Period, circa 8th-7th Century B.C.
The open vessel with a stylised bull's head prow, with a long muzzle and large curving horn, cast in one piece with a double-legged arching element forming a handle, surmounted by a suspension loop with bird finial, 24cm long, 11.5cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
Michel Holley collection, Paris, acquired prior to 1972.

For a similar lamp with bull's head prow and bifurcating arched handle element, dated to 8th Century B.C., see Kunst Sardiniens, Baden State Museum catalogue, 1980, p. 323, fig. 179.

Michel Holley (b. 1924) is a noted architect, and sailing enthusiast. M. Holley studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in the studio of Otello Zavaronia, and was elected Grand Massier in 1954. A keen member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, M. Holley took part in the 1973 Cowes Admiralty Cup with the Izenah IV. His love of the nautical inspired his collection, which though drawn from the breadth of the Greek, Roman and Egyptian cultures, is bound by a fascination with seafaring. Formed in the early 1970s, this collection comes to auction for the first time.

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