120 - A SUPERB PAIR OF HELLENISTIC SILVER RAM-HEAD APPLIQUÉS, LATE 3RD-EARLY 2ND CENTURY BC

A SUPERB PAIR OF HELLENISTIC SILVER RAM-HEAD APPLIQUÉS, LATE 3RD-EARLY 2ND CENTURY BC Expert's note The close correspondence in scale, modeling, and workmanship strongly indicates that the two heads were conceived as a pair. Their hollow construction and open backs identify them as appliqués, while the substantial silver weight, deeply modeled fleece, and precisely ribbed horns point to their original use on a high-status object of Hellenistic luxury metalwork. The remarkably vivid treatment of the curling fleece and powerful spiraling horns is reminiscent, on a miniature scale, of the celebrated Bronze Ram of Syracuse, once likewise part of a pair, and now in the Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonino Salinas, Palermo, inventory number 8365. Hellenistic period. Finely cast and cold-worked as a closely matched pair of ram heads, each with a long tapering muzzle, subtly modeled nostrils and mouth, and almond-shaped eyes beneath a dense mass of tightly curled fleece. The powerful horns sweep outward before curling tightly beside the head, their surfaces carefully articulated with closely spaced transverse ribbing. The deeply worked fleece is rendered in individually defined curling locks, contrasting with the smoother planes of the face and muzzle. Each is hollow and open at the reverse, with irregular attachment edges, indicating that the pair probably once served as a matched pair of handle attachments on a luxury silver vessel, perhaps a situla. (2) Provenance: E.D. private collection, USA, acquired in the late 1970s, and thence by descent within the family. A copy of a provenance statement, dated 18 January 2026, confirming the above, accompanies this lot. Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Expected wear and casting irregularities, slight rubbing to one muzzle. The silver with minor dark tarnishing and oxidation, one with encrustations on the inside. The finely worked details remain remarkably well preserved. Weight: 32 g and 32.5 g Dimensions: Width 4 cm (each) Animal-head fittings formed an important element of Greek luxury metalwork, serving as terminals, attachments, and ornamental elements on cauldrons, jugs, situlae, and related vessels. An early Greek bronze bull's-head cauldron attachment of the 7th century BC in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 1), followed by a bronze ram's head from the Acropolis, circa 550-525 BC, probably once attached to the rim of a lebes (fig. 2), illustrate the long tradition of separately worked animal protomes used as vessel decoration. Closer in date and function is a bronze situla of 400-300 BC in the British Museum, preserving two movable handles secured by separately worked figural attachments (fig. 3). A pair of Greek silver shell-shaped attachments in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, dating to the late 4th-3rd century BC and measuring approximately 4 cm, is particularly relevant in terms of material, scale, and function (fig. 4). The museum suggests that such fittings may have decorated the junction between the handle and shoulder of an oinochoe. Particularly important are the royal silver vessels from Aigai (Vergina). The large silver situla from Tomb II, traditionally identified as the tomb of Philip II, demonstrates the exceptional quality of Macedonian silver vessels of the late 4th century BC (fig. 5), while a silver patera from Tomb III terminates in a finely cast ram's head (fig. 6a-b). Together, these examples provide a convincing context for the present pair, whose hollow backs and attachment edges indicate that they were originally affixed to a larger object, most likely a prestigious silver vessel. Their closely matched size, weight, and workmanship strongly suggest that they were conceived as a pair. Auction result comparison: Type: Related Auction: Christie’s New York, 4 June 2008, lot 197 Price: USD 116,500 or approx. EUR 158,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Description: A Greek silver ladle (kyathos), Seleucid, circa 3rd-2nd century BC, 34.9 cm high. Expert remark: Compare the closely related Hellenistic dating, silver medium, and finely modeled zoomorphic decoration, particularly the elaborate ibex-head terminal with ridged horns, prominent ears, and incised details. Note the considerably larger size (34.9 cm) and different function as a ladle.