Greek relief of the Icarius banquet, Hellenistic Period, c.2nd-1st century BC

Marble

Dimensions: 33 x 26 x 3cm

10995 TA

£ 19,000

Greek relief of the Icarius banquet, Hellenistic Period, c.2nd-1st century BC

Richly carved marble relief fragment depicting the banquet of the actor Icarius and the god Dionysos. Upon a cushioned couch reclines a youth, his large hand resting on the side of the mattress. Before him is a circular tripod table with animal legs, laid for a feast: a kantharos stands prominently in the centre amidst fruit and bread. To the right of the scene a short-tailed satyr bends down to remove the shoes of Dionysos, his taut muscles sensitively rendered. Thick drapery hanging beneath the couch forming the backdrop. The surface with some areas of staining.

Icarius reliefs depict Dionysus, who was amongst other things, patron of the theatre, visiting Icarius, the father of Attic tragedy (or sometimes another poet). Margarete Bieber discusses this genre, and states that the reliefs are particularly noteworthy for their inclusion of a foreground set against a continuous pictorial background.

继续

Provenance

Joseph von Kopf (1827-1903), Rome, Italy
Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962), New York, USA; thence by descent to the Hagop Kevorkian Fund

Hanita (1915-2019) and Aaron (1918-2000) Dechter, USA; acquired 22nd November 1974

Collection number in blue crayon '142'

Joseph von Kopf was a sculptor active in Würzburg and in Rome before settling in Baden-Baden. His oeuvre included busts and statues of German royalty, as well as allegorical figures.

Hagop Kevorkian was an Armenian-American, an art connoisseur, collector and archaeologist. After his death, his foundation established the Kevorkian Chair of Iranian Studies at Columbia University. The Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University was created in 1966 to encourage the study of the contemporary Middle East.

展览

University Art Gallery, California State University, San Bernardino, May 5-June 2, 1989; Art Galleries, California State University, Northridge, February 26-March 30, 1990, object number 6

Literature

Compare an identical example from the British Museum, published in Margarete Bieber, The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age (New York, 1967), fig.656 and pp.153-154

出版品

Ludwig Pollak, Joseph v. Kopf als Sammler: Beschreibung der von ihm hinterlassenen Sammlung (Rome, 1905), p.6, no.17, pl.4

Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, Antiquities, 22nd November 1974, lot 248 'Property of the Hagop Kevorkian Fund'

Kenneth Hamma, ed., The Dechter Collection of Greek Vases (San Bernardino, 1989), p.83, no.6

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