Francesca Hickin
Head of Department
Lot 60
An Attic white-ground lekythos
28 November 2019, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £17,562.50 inc. premium
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Anna Marston
Associate Specialist
An Attic white-ground lekythos
Class of Side-Palmette Lekythoi, circa 490-480 B.C.
Painted in black and brown with Herakles destroying the house of Nereus, the nude bearded hero wielding a trident with vessels scattered at his feet, a kalos inscription in the field, flanked by scrolling palmettes, with a band of meander above and linked palmettes on the shoulder, rays around the base of the neck, 18.1cm high
Class of Side-Palmette Lekythoi, circa 490-480 B.C.
Painted in black and brown with Herakles destroying the house of Nereus, the nude bearded hero wielding a trident with vessels scattered at his feet, a kalos inscription in the field, flanked by scrolling palmettes, with a band of meander above and linked palmettes on the shoulder, rays around the base of the neck, 18.1cm high
Footnotes
Provenance:
Private collection, Kiel.
Anonymous sale; Münzen und Medaillen AG, Basel, 1976.
Private collection, Germany.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 5 December 2007, lot 43.
with Cahn AG, Basel.
Drs Gerd and Sigrid von der Gönna collection, Germany, acquired from the above 22 October 2010.
Beazley Archive no. 1554.
Published:
K. Schauenburg, in Momentum Chiloniense, Kieler Festschrift für E. Burck zum 70. Geb., Amsterdam, 1975, p. 552ff, figs. 8, 10, and 11.
W. Hornbostel et al., Kunst der Antike. Scätze aus norddeutschem Privatbesitz, exhibition cat., Mainz am Rheim, 1977, p. 310-11, no. 265.
C. Bérard, 'Iconographie-Iconologie-Iconologique', Etudes de Lettres, vol. 4, 1983, p. 16, fig. 5.
F. Brommer, Herakles II: Die unkanonischen Taten des Helden, Darmstadt, 1984, pl. 47B.
The finely-painted scene on this lekythos depicts part of the Eleventh Labour of Herakles, which was to fetch the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Herakles did not know where to find the sacred garden, and travelled through Libya, Egypt, Arabia and Asia asking for guidance. In Illyria he came upon the ancient sea-god Nereus, who knew the secret location of the garden, but was reluctant to be of help, which enraged the hero. Herakles is here shown in a fit of pique using a trident to destroy the furniture and vases in the house of Nereus. The sea-god ultimately divulged the location of the garden and Herakles proceeded on his travels.