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THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR (lots 85-110)Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965) was a principle of the most renowned art-dealing family in Rome. The firm was located at 117 via Ripetta at Palazzo Borghese and was famous for many important auctions, with catalogues written in collaboration with leading scholars. The galleria specialized in ancient art, furniture, ceramics and textiles. As a private collector, Sangiorgi assembled an important ancient glass collection, which he published in 1914 (Collezione de Vetri Antichi dalle Origini al V Sec. D.C., ordinati e descriti da Giorgio Sangiorgi con prefazione di W. Froehner). Masterpieces from it were sold in the 1960s and are now the pride of numerous institutions such as the Toledo Museum of Art and the Corning Museum of Glass; the bulk of the collection was sold at Christie’s New York in June 1999, “Ancient Glass formerly in the G. Sangiorgi Collection.” As with the glass collection, many of the objects in his personal collection, such as the gems presented here, were acquired throughout Europe and never imported into Italy. With thanks to Dr Carina Weiss for her help in researching this collection.

A GREEK CORAL CAMEO OF ZEUS

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY B.C.

Details

A GREEK CORAL CAMEO OF ZEUS
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY B.C.
47 mm. long

Provenance

G. Sangiorgi collection (1886-1965), Rome.
Private collection, Monaco, 1970s; thence by descent.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

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Beatrice Campi

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Lot Essay

In his own personal notes on the above cameo Sangiorgi wrote "a rare material in glyptic work". For a discussion on the use of coral in ancient jewellery see J. Ogden, Jewellery of the Ancient World, London, 1982, pp. 117-118. Although not unknown, coral was indeed a rare material in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, with very few examples known.

For a very similar cameo in steatite, with an early Roman dating, in the Diözesanmuseum (now Kolumba), Cologne (inv. no. N100) see W.-R. Megow, Kameen von Augustus bis Alexander Severus, Berlin, 1987, pp. 208-209, no. A89. The beard and moustache are rendered in similar curls and the eagle is shown below Zeus with wings outspread, as has the above. For a Hellenistic cameo of Zeus see the Zulian cameo in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Venice. A coral piece in the British museum also show similarities - see inv. no. 3940 for a bust of Serapis.

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