Greece, ca. late 3rd to early 2nd century BCE. A cloaked man lies with his bare chest turned towards the beholder. He holds a drinking vessel in his left hand. With his right hand he gestures towards a shrine in the background. A small boyish figure also points towards it with his left arm. The head and forequarters of a horse to the left of the shrine. A snake and a table with three legs which bears various vessels. Three corners of the broad frame are cut away. In the top left corner, part of the relief is also missing. Reverse roughly smoothened. Size: 23-7/8"H (60 cm).

For the style and the motif, also that of the horse's head, cf. U. Hausmann, Griechische Weihreliefs (Berlin 1960) 25ff., illus. 12; L. Budde-R. Nicholls, A Catalogue of Greek and Roman Sculpture in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge2, Cat. Cambridge (Cambridge 1967) 37f., nos. 63-64, pl. 20. Reliefs with funerary banquets depict the deceased as a hero in a larger scale and with his chest bared. As such he is an intermediary between the human and heavenly worlds. The horse's head is an attribute of the hero. The snake is a chthonic symbol linking the scene to the underworld.

Provenance: Ex-private Herbert A. Cahn collection, Basle, 1960-1970.

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

#108633

Overall good with expected wear especially on the head and right hand of the recumbant figure, head, arms and left leg of the smaller figure, frame and legs of kline and table.