Hindman Antiquities & Ethnographic Art
Thursday, November 18, 2021
Live + Online | Chicago
www.hindmanauctions.com
CONTACT Jacob Coley,
312.280.1212 Director & Senior Specialist
jacobcoley@hindmanauctions.com
CHICAGO — On November 18 at 10 am, Hindman will present its antiquities and ethnographic art auction, offering rare objects from the fifth millennium BCE to the Twentieth Century CE. Across 400 lots, the sale spans seven millennia, encompassing everything from Near Eastern idols and Egyptian bronzes to Graeco-Roman marbles, pottery, glass and pre-Columbian vessels. Objects from India, Oceania and Africa as well as art reference books and catalogs will be represented. Egyptian cats rendered in numerous mediums and marble sculptures from the Greek and Roman worlds will be among top lots. Collections include property from the Palm Springs Art Museum, California; Des Moines Art Center, Iowa; Dr Hernan D. Ruf, Florida; Pamela Keld, New York; and a Midwest private collector.
An Egyptian bronze cat made during the 26th Dynasty, 664-525 BCE ($80/120,000) is the standout of the auction and graces the catalog cover. Often ranging in size and quality, rarely do bronzes so exquisitely capture the splendor of the species as this life-sized figure, which measures 19.1 centimeters in height. By the Late Period, the goddess Bastet was often depicted in complete feline form. Objects such as this were deposited as votive offerings to her at the temple Bubastis or Memphis.
The auction will begin by taking bidders all the way back to the earliest forms of writing and abstract art, with cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals and stone idols. Figural stone sculptures will also be showcased throughout the sale, anchored by a rediscovered black marble “Venus” ($40/50,000).
Other examples of top sculptures include marble portrait heads of a Roman patrician ($40/60,000), Emperor Domitian ($40/60,000), a youthful satyr ($40/60,000) and Alexander the Great ($40/50,000). Large-scale sculptures and marbles also include a Greek marble loutrophoros ($60/90,000), and a singular example of Alexander the Great as Hermanubis ($35/45,000).
Graeco-Roman pottery, such as an Attic red-figured kalpis from the Fifth Century BCE ($30/50,000), will also be spotlighted in the sale. Courtesans were often guests of the all-male symposium, and thus a popular subject matter in Greek art. Other pottery offered includes a Roman kantharos ($40/50,000). The superior craftsmanship of this crater is evident in the applied relief work and exuberant exterior.
Lots also include two Egyptian glass face inlays that depict royal portraits in profile ($30/40,000 and $20/30,000, respectively), an Egyptian limestone sarcophagus lid from the Late Period ($40/60,000) and a Maya red-ware jaguar incensario from the Sixth to Tenth Century CE ($20/40,000).
Hindman is at 1338 West Lake Street. For more information, www.hindmanauctions.com or 312-280-1212.
5 Church Hill Road / Newtown, CT 06470
Mon - Fri / 8:00 am - 5:01 pm
(203) 426-8036