|
THRACO-MACEDONIAN REGION, Berge. Circa 525-480 BC. AR Stater (21mm, 9.90 g). Ithyphallic satyr standing right, right hand grasping right wrist of nymph fleeing right, his left hand supporting her chin; three pellets around / Rough incuse square divided diagonally. Smith Group 5 (Lete); Peykov A0020 (Siris); HPM pl. VIII, 4; AMNG III/2, 14 (Lete); SNG ANS 954–61 (“Lete”); Kunstfreund 40 (Uncertain mint); Traité I 1568 (Lete). Beautifully toned. Superb EF. Click here for a video presentation on this collection.
From the Columbus Collection. Ex Triton XVIII (6 January 2015), lot 430; LHS 100 (23 April 2007), lot 211; Leu 38 (13 May 1986), lot 58; Christitch Collection (Egger XLI, 18 November 1912), lot 340; Dr. Fenerly Bey du Phanar Collection.
The satyr/centaur and nymph type represents a common theme in Greek mythology: the juxtaposition of the wildly monstrous and sexually-charged with the human. Kraay's view (ACGC pp. 148-9) that the coins where the satyr and nymph are both standing show the nymph seducing the satyr, while the coins where the nymph is in the satyr's arms show the nymph is protesting her being carried off, is contradicted by a close inspection of the coins themselves. In similar scenes of this event depicted elsewhere, the satyr clearly manhandles the nymph, forcibly grasping one of her arms, while the nymph appears in a posture of apparent flight (see, e.g., HPM pl. VII-VIII). Clearly, in both scenes the nymph is protesting the actions of the satyr or centaur, who, in the role of the wild, libidinous creature that he is, is seizing the nymph for his own purposes, driven by his sexual arousal.
This particular issue has previously been given to Lete and Siris, but S. Psoma has persuasively argued against both of these attributions, and suggests that the city of Berge is the most likely in light of the historical and numismatic evidence. (See S. Psoma, “The ‘Lete’ Coinage Reconsidered” in Agoranomia.)
The final winners of all Triton XXVIII lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 14-15 January 2025.
Triton XXVIII – Session One – Lot 1–287 will be held Tuesday morning, 14 January 2025 beginning at 9:00 AM ET.
Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.
We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.
|
