ANIMALS AND HYBRIDS BASEL 2020 CATALOGUE 25OPENING 5 NOVEMBER 2020 2 – 8 p.m. EXHIBITION 6 – 7 NOVEMBER 2020 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. 8 NOVEMBER 2020 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. 9 NOVEMBER – 18 DECEMBER 2020 By appointment only The gallery will be closed from 21 December 2020 until 13 January 2021. Packaging, insurance and transport are at the expense of the buyer. Prices in Swiss francs net for export.ANIMALS AND HYBRIDS CATALOGUE 25 BASEL 2020 Jean-David Cahn AG Malzgasse 23 4052 Basel Switzerland Tel. +41 61 271 67 55 Fax +41 61 271 57 33 mail@cahn.ch cahn.ch1A COSMETIC PALETTE IN THE SHAPE OF A FISH L. 12.3 cm. Slate. Egypt, Predynastic, Naqada II–III, 2nd half of 4th mill. B.C. CHF 4,800 Flat stone slab in the shape of a stylized fish. Tail fin offset by incisions. Dorsal and pelvic fins indicated on both sides by notches. Drill hole at the top for suspension. Traces of use. Formerly Coll. Prof. Hans Dahn (1919–2019), Lausanne; acquired 18.3.1953 (from Coll. Hindami- an, Paris). Cosmetic palettes made of green slate, especially those with figural shapes, belong to the most attractive craft products of the Naqada Culture. They were used mainly for the preparation of cosmetics, but soon also acquired a symbolic and cultic function. During the preparation process, the apotropaic and regenerative powers of the animals represented on the palettes were thought to be transferred to the cosmetics, which in turn aided the person using them. Cf. a fish-shaped specimen in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 35.7.3. 2A BIRD-SHAPED VESSEL L. 11.4 cm. Reddish-brown clay. Egypt, Predynastic, Naqada I, ca. 4500–3500 B.C. CHF 7,600 Stylized bird with bulbous body and small head. Decorated with groups of lines painted in violet-brown glaze. Round filling-hole on the top. Small hole at the bottom. Polychromy partially faded. Formerly Coll. Prof. Hans Dahn (1919–2019), Lausanne; acquired 7.1.1957 from Spink, London. Cf. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 07.228.55. See also W. C. Hayes, The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in the Metropolitan Muse- um of Art. Vol. 1, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom (New York 1953) 17.3A SMALL BOWL WITH BIRD’S HEAD Dm. 8.5 cm. H. 4.6 cm. Chlorite. Western or Central Asia, 3rd–2nd mill. B.C. CHF 12,000 Zoomorphic bowl. The rim is decorated with the three-dimensional head of a bird (probably a bird of prey). Eyes originally inlaid; red pigment in the cavities into which the inlays were inserted. The deep bowl represents the bird’s body. A moulded pair of stylized feet form the base. Reassembled from large fragments. Formerly Coll. of the art dealer Christoph Bernoulli (1897–1981), Basel, prior to 1963. Thence by descent in the family. Christoph Bernoulli was one of the founders of the Antikenmuseum Basel. The German actor, director and theatre manager Gustaf Gründkens was one of his close friends.Next >