Exceptional Bust of Mithrapata
Pedigreed to 1957

CNG 108, Lot: 243. Estimate $5000. Sold for $15000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DYNASTS of LYCIA. Mithrapata. Circa 390-370 BC. AR Stater (25.5mm, 9.87 g, 10h). Forepart of lion right / Head of Mithrapata left; MITHRAP-A-T-A in Lycian around, triskeles to lower right; all within incuse square. Mildenberg, Mithrapata 4 (dies 2/3); Podalia 53 (A2/P3 – this coin); Müseler VII 66–9 (same obv. die); Reuter 98 (same dies); Falghera –; SNG Copenhagen Supp. 472 var. (arrangement of letters); SNG Ashmolean 1200 (same obv. die); SNG von Aulock 4237 (same obv. die). EF, toned. Well centered and excellent metal for issue.

Ex Leu 20 (25 April 1978), lot 143; Hess-Leu [9] (2 April 1958), lot 222; 1957 Buçak [Podalia] hoard (IGCH 1262).

The portraits on coins in the later Lycian series are among the finest of the Classical period. Among the earliest to attempt depictions of their rulers on coinage, the Lycians' first portraits in the later 5th century BC were innovative, but static, idealized forms lacking individual characterization. Over the next half-century, however, the style progressed significantly toward realism, culminating in the issues of the dynasts Mithrapata and Perikles in the early-mid 4th century BC. The coins of Mithrapata came first, depicting on their reverse the profile portrait of a man with distinctive elderly features. Through the relative chronology established in L. Mildenberg's die study, one can even see the portrait become more aged as time progressed, reflecting the realism that had been captured in these issues. The coins of Perikles, Mithrapata's successor, continue this trend. Interestingly, both Mithrapata and Perikles are depicted without any sort of satrapal headgear, which was always included in earlier Lycian portraits, perhaps indicating that they had declared their independence from the Persian king. Unfortunately, these astonishing developments in portraiture came to an abrupt end in Lycia when Maussollos of Caria invaded the region circa 360 BC.