THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR 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. 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 here 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.

A GREEK GARNET RINGSTONE

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details

A GREEK GARNET RINGSTONE
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.
With a draped bust of a goddess in profile to the left, a band of laurel and a fillet in her hair, with three ringlets falling onto her neck, a butterfly before her
13/16 in. (2 cm.) long

Provenance

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

Brought to you by

G. Max Bernheimer

mbernheimer@christies.com +1 212 636 2247

Lot Essay

For the style compare several busts of Isis and Apollo, both shown with similar ringlets of hair, figs. 13-17, 25-27 in J. Spier, "A Group of Ptolemaic Engraved Garnets," in The Journal of The Walters Art Gallery, vol. 47, 1989.

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