< Previous4A CAPRId OR HAREL. 3.3 cm. Bronze (solid cast). Near Eastern, 1st half of 1st mill. B.C. CHF 700Stylised quadruped with short legs, pointed, tapering snout and long horns. The statuette probably represents a caprid. Such animals were frequently depicted in the Near East from Neolithic times onwards. They are found not only in hunting scenes but also in religious imagery. As the horns are particularly straight, it is, however, possible that the animal might represent a hare with long ears. The statuette may have served as an applique. Minor surface loss on the back, otherwise undamaged. Brown deposits in places.Formerly priv. coll. Germany, since the 1960s-early 1970s. For a similarly shaped statuette cf. A.S. Walker, Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenberg Collection. Part III (Mainz 1996) 156, no. 243.5A STATUETTE OF A BULLL. 11.3 cm. H. 9.8 cm. Clay. Cypriote, late 2nd mill. B.C. CHF 2,800The stylised bull stands on slightly splayed legs. Powerful horns rise up from his head and the dewlap is indicated. Probably a votive gift. Intact.From the estate of the Swiss art dealer and collector Elsa Bloch-Diener (1922-2012), Berne, acquired between 1968 and 1983. For the style cf. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 74.51.825.6A BLACkSMITH’S HAMMER WITH A HORSE PROTOMEL. 6.2 cm. Iron. North Europe, Viking Age, ca. 800-1000 A.D. CHF 800Small hammer, triangular in shape and with a rectangular cross-section. Rectangular hole for the shaft. A single broad, flat face. The claw is crafted in the shape of an elongated horse’s head with rudimentary ears, eyes, nostrils and mouth. The head is placed at a right angle to the axis of the tool and points downwards, thus forming a hook. The size of the hammer and the horse motif represented indicate that the tool was used by a farrier (a blacksmith specialised in equine care). Surface corroded, otherwise intact. The details of the horse’s head are easily discernible. Formerly priv. coll. N. N., Orange County, California, USA, acquired in the late 1990s. 7A PIGL. 8.5 cm. H. 5.6 cm. Terracotta. Cyprus (Cypro-Archaic), 8th-6th cent. B.C. CHF 1,800Flat body with arched underside and short legs. Head with long snout and pointed, upright ears. The short tail curls upwards and rests on the pig’s back. Head and body decorated with red and black stripes. Hand-modelled, tips of ears slightly worn. Colour partially abraded.Formerly priv. coll. Tony Eastgate, London. Thence by descent in the family. For a parallel related in form and colour, cf. D. Morris, The Art of Ancient Cyprus (Oxford 1985) 212, pl. 240.8A STATUETTE OF A LIONL. 8.8 cm. Bucchero. Etruscan, 6th cent. B.C. CHF 9,600The stylised lion crouches on the ground with its jaws wide open and its ears raised at-tentively. The slender body is perforated horizontally and the mouth, too, has a circular opening. As the body is not hollow, it cannot have served as a vessel, although this is occasi-onally the case. The distinct curve of the underside suggests that the lion might have served as an applique that adorned a vessel or its lid. Bucchero is a ceramic ware with a glossy, black surface which was produced in the Etruscan city-states in the late 7th and 6th cent. B.C.From the estate of the Swiss art dealer and collector Elsa Bloch-Diener (1922-2012), Berne, acquired between 1968 and 1983. For the style, cf. a vessel modelled in the shape of a recumbent lion in: A.P. Kozloff et al., More Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenberg Collection (Mainz 1986) 45, no. II, 79.Next >