Antiquities - ancient East Greek terracotta griffin fragment

East Greek terracotta griffin fragment

£80

A fragment from a moulded terracotta architectural panel depicting the foreparts of a striding griffin.

This item originates from an important municipal building in the city of Duver which was part of the ancient state of Phrygia. The Phrygian state was established by Greek migrants moving to the Western Coast of Asia Minor some time after the Trojan War and was fabled to have been founded by King Midas. The Phrygians were fabulously rich due to extensive gold finds within their territory (hence the myth of Midas and his golden touch) and they were ruled from the capital of Gordion which was to be the site of Alexander the Great's cutting of the Gordian Knot in the late 4th Century BC.

Despite vast wealth and a powerful army, Phrygia and neighbouring Lydia were conquered by Cyrus The Great in around 546 BC and this opened the door to the Persian invasions of Greece and the Mediterranean Classical world.

Western Asia Minor, Phrygia, Duver, 550-525 BC.

Size: 15 x 12.7 cms

Fragment as shown.

Provenance: part of a private collection of Phrygian terracotta fragments which we will be offering for sale for the first time in over 25 years. The earliest acquisition date of the pieces remains unclear although it seems very likely that they were bought at Sothebys or Spinks (London) in 1964 or 1965 in one of four auctions which dispersed a large number of similar fragments from the ancient site of Duver. The items which we are offering from this collection have remained in storage in the UK since 1983 and we are actively trying to confirm their earlier collection history.

For a discussion of related pieces from the same buildings and diagrams of the revetments in situ please refer to "Die Architektonischen Terrakotten Kleinasiens" by Ake Akerstrom, Sweden 1966. (Swedish Institute in Athens, series 4, volume XI).

Closely related terracotta fragments from the same buildings at Duver are now held by at least 20 major museums including Berlin, Louvre, Istanbul, Jerusalem and Ottawa.

www.heliosgallery.com

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