< PreviousCQ10Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2017CQ11Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2017A VOTIVE STATUETTE OF A DRAPED FEMALE. H. 9.5 cm. Marble. Standing figure of a woman clothed in chiton and himation, holding a small animal in her arms. Only summarily worked at back. Missing: head, legs below knees. Slight surface encrustation. Formerly Coll. Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. Greek, Hellenistic, 2nd-1st cent. B.C. CHF 1,600A LEFT FOOT OF A CHILD. W. 12 cm. Marble. From a statue of Eros or a child. Little toe and heel slightly worn. Other-wise beautifully preserved Formerly priv. coll. W. Froelich, New York, 1970s. Roman, 2nd cent. A.D. CHF 7,500 A FOOT OF A CISTA WITH SWANS. W. 9.2 cm. Bronze. Corner of a square cista with a lion's paw as foot. Above it, two facing swans on an acanthus leaf with volutes. Reverse with a ledge on which the corner of the cista was placed. Three wing-tips either worn or miss-ing. Formerly Coll. Louis-Gabriel Bellon (1819-1899). Old collection label: "323". Etruscan, 1st half of 3rd cent. B.C. CHF 3,800A HEAD OF AN IDOL (DOKATHISMATA TYPE). H. 6.2 cm. Marble. The marble art works from the Cycladic Islands are characterised by a simple, timeless elegance, and as material evidence testifying to one of the earliest high cultures of mankind, they exercise a great fascination on the modern beholder. The almost triangular head of the Dokathismata type curves backwards elegantly. It has a slender, plastically accentuated nose and a pointed chin. The long, slender neck is almost entirely preserved. Nose and top of head slightly worn. Reddish and yellow dis-colourations in the stone. Formerly Venetian priv. coll., acquired ca. 1960s-1970s. Thence by descent. Early Cy-cladic II, ca. 2700-2300 B.C. CHF 12,000A LEFT ARM OF FORTUNA WITH CORNUCOPIA. H. 16.3 cm. Marble. The garment which is held together by a circular fibula and glides from the shoulder in-dicates that the figure represented was female. As she holds a large cornucopia from which a rich array of fruit emerges, there is no doubt that the statuette de-picted the goddess Fortuna. Surface of break smoothed. Formerly Coll. Nicolas Landau (1887-1979). Thereafter priv. coll., acquired 2006, Galerie Kugel, Paris. Roman, 2nd-3rd cent. A.D. CHF 5,600A NECKLACE WITH THREE PENDANTS IN THE FORM OF A WOMAN'S BUST. H. ca. 2.8 cm. Gold. The three appliques are all the same size and were probably also integrated in a piece of jewellery in Antiquity. They are each set in a gold frame which follows the contours of the appliques. They are arranged as pendants that are connected by means of several gold chain links. The fe-male busts with long, wavy hair are represented frontally and probably depict a goddess who cannot, however, be identified with certainty. The S-shaped gold fastener is modern. Height of the ancient appliques: 2.8 cm. Length of necklace: 43.2 cm. Probably Northern Greece (Thrace). Formerly priv. coll R. S., LA County, before 1997. Greek, Hellenistic, 3rd-1st cent. B.C. CHF 8,800A GRIFFIN PROTOME. H. 15.5 cm. Marble. An upright crest with triangular protrusions crowns the griffin's slightly asymmetrical head and extends far down its neck. The ears are pricked and turned forwards attentive-ly. The spherical eyes, which are located at distinctly dif-ferent positions on either side of the head, are set beneath arched eyebrows. The base of the beak is surrounded by skin folds on both sides. A short fur collar envelopes the neck. Tip of beak lost; tips of ears and crest slightly worn. Iron-oxide patina. The left side of the protome was more evenly sculpted by the artist, whereas the right side where the eye is shifted downwards seems to have been treated more summarily. Protomes of this kind originally adorned tall, voluminous griffin cauldrons. In the case of our specimen, which was probably made in Attica, the left side may have been conceived as the main view. For-merly Coll. Fondation Thétis, Geneva, Switzerland, pub-lished in 1987. Greek, 4th cent. B.C. CHF 8,600CQ12Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2017A HEAD OF A HORSE. H. 15.5 cm. Marble. The powerful and naturalistic modelling of this expressive head clearly reveals its bony structure, thereby creating the impression of physical exertion. This is particularly evident when one beholds the deep vertical grooves above the bulging brows. The round, slightly protruding eyes have energetically drilled, comma-shaped pupils, whereas the lower lid is rendered by a fine incision. The upright mane is structured by short drilled channels. The harness is modelled in relief and the point where the straps cross at the temples is adorned with small discs. The left side of the head is somewhat flatter then the right side, indicating that it may have been part of a relief, a hypothesis that is supported by the way in which the horse turns its head to the right. This motif as well as the sculpture's style are reminiscent of the horses' heads which were worked in the round found on hunting sarcophagi depicting scenes from the myths of Hippolytus or Meleager and dating from the Late Antonine and Severan Periods. Part of ears preserved. Front section of mane and muzzle slightly worn. Fragment of a relief from a sarcophagus or a narrative frieze. Formerly priv. coll., South Germany, mid 1960s. Roman, Late Antonine-Severan, last quarter of 2nd-1st quarter 3rd cent. A.D. CHF 8,800A FRAGMENT OF A MUSE SARCOPHAGUS. H. 33 cm. Marble. A section is preserved from the upper left portion of a sarcophagus front, which would originally have been decorated with figures of the nine Muses, paratactically arranged. Head and shoulders survive of Terpsichore, “delight in dancing", whose realm was dance and the dramatic chorus. She is readily identified by her attribute, the lyre, whose upright arms are prominently formed of gnarled horn. In her right hand, she holds a plectrum for the plucking of the instrument's strings. Her place in the canonical arrangement, reading from the far left side of the panel, is often standing adjacent to Polymnia, Muse of sacred poetry who usually begins the series, pensive, fully wrapped in her mantle, in meditative mood leaning to right with her elbow resting atop a pillar. Strikingly, however, Terpsichore is here given not the expected comely features of a youthful divinity, but rather those of the deceased, a notably realistic portrait of a woman both aged and world-weary, her left arm languidly draped over the lyre's crossbar. Both the choice of decorative scheme and the assimilation of the client's identity as the "ninth Muse" clearly reflect the taste of the Roman upper class for Greek culture and literature as social refinements to be carried over into the afterlife. The distinctive dressing of her hair reflects a fashion favoured by female members of the imperial fami-ly, of Late- to Post-Severan date, such as Julia Mamaea, the mother of Alexander Severus (r. 222-235) whose reign marks the end of the dynasty, and the empresses Tranquillina and Otacilia Severa in the 240s. From ca. 110-120 A.D., Rome was established as the principal centre for the production of sarcophagi in the imperial west, and this example is doubtless the creation of a Metropolitan Roman workshop. Slight damage and wear to surfaces. Formerly Paris art market, Hôtel Drouot; Paris, priv. coll.; Paris art market., Sylvain Levy-Alban, acquired ca. 1984-1985; Collection Hurst, UK, purchased ca. 1990; UK art market.; Zurich art market. Roman, Late- to Post-Severan, 2nd quarter of 3rd cent. A.D. CHF 36,000PART OF A STATUETTE OF A WOMAN. H. 10.3 cm. Terracotta, polychromy. Attractive fragment showing a young woman with melon coiffure. The well-preserved polychromy makes her amiable facial features seem ex-ceptionally life-like. The eyes and eyebrows are paint-ed black, the lips red. The shade of orange selected for the skin extends over the neck and left breast. It follows that that breast is bared, whereas the other is concealed behind a mantle with thick border, which is pulled up over the head and where there are traces of green paint in places. This allows the figure to be identified as the goddess Isis – or Aphrodite, who in Ptolemaic Egypt was equated with her. She might have been a kourotrophos, i.e. a figure cradling a child. Around her neck is a chain painted in red. Large areas of white clay slip and remains of black paint in the hair. Formerly priv. coll. Rhode Is-land. Egypt, Ptolemaic Period, 3rd cent. B.C. CHF 1,600A HANDLE OF AN ARYBALLOS. L. 10 cm. Bronze. Of an-gular shape with an extremely well-shaped Late Classical palmette. Formerly European priv. coll., acquired in the late 19th century. Thence by descent. Thereafter London art market, 2010. Greek, 5th cent. B.C. CHF 1,600CQ13Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2017A HEAD OF A KILIYA IDOL. H. 4,4 cm. Marble. Heav-ily stylized head, triangular in shape with rudimentary ears. Convex face with long, ridge-like nose. The neck is disproportionately slender. Slight encrustation on the edge of the right half of the face. Nose tip worn. Reverse of the neck slightly chipped. Formerly priv. coll. Jacline Mazard, New York, USA, 1975-2016. Western Asia, 4th-3rd mill. B.C. CHF 7,800A BLACK-FIGURE CUP TYPE A (EYE CUP), ATTRIBUTED TO THE KROKOTOS GROUP. Dm 28 cm. Orange Attic clay, black glaze, added white and red. The inside is dec-orated with a Gorgoneion with four black dots on the forehead. The outside is adorned with Dionysos with a drinking horn, surrounded by ivy and accompanied by his wife Ariadne. They stand between large eyes with ivy branches for brows. The painter has painted grapevines under the handles, the grapes extend onto the exterior. The bottom of the outside is embellished with alternating reserved and black rays. Red opaque paint for the pupils, vine leaves and robes; white opaque paint to articulate female flesh, eyes and fabric pattern. Reassembled; parts missing from the tondo, wall and foot restored in reserve and either primed or retouched in black. Opaque paint in A HEAD OF A CHILD, POSSIBLY EROS. H. 9.5 cm. Clay, white slip, red paint. The boy's round face bears chub-by, child-like features interrupted only by the shallow dimples surrounding his snub nose and tiny mouth with finely curved lips. With wide-open eyes, he stares out at the viewer with curiosity. Thick hair coiled up on top of the head and tied into a braid laid back over the head. Remains of white ground, especially on the left side of the face, in places with traces of pink representing the flesh; traces of brown in the hair. Sculpted in the round. Fired hollow. Fragments missing from chin and crown. Head of a statuette. Formerly priv. coll. Switzerland. Western Greek, 4th cent. B.C. CHF 1,200A HANDLE OF AN OINOCHOE. H. 14 cm. Bronze. Curved strap handle which ends in a Gorgoneion. Wild ringlets of hair, some rising upwards, frame the face of Medusa. Snake's heads emerge from the two horns on her head. The bodies of the snakes form a knot under her chin. The round drill holes of the pupils were possibly originally inlaid in silver. Surface of handle corroded, the lower edge of the Gorgoneion partially trimmed. Formerly Coll. Louis-Gabriel Bellon (1819-1899). Roman, 1st cent. B.C.-1st cent. A.D. CHF 1,600A FRAGMENT OF A CORINTHIAN CAPITAL. H. 25 cm. Marble. Preserved here are the moulded corner volute, the acanthus leaf out of which it springs, and a section of the concave abacus whose upper face, on which the architrave would have rested, is intact. The reverse of a small area of the abacus has been smoothed and it was directly underneath this that the volute of the adjoining face would have abutted the preserved volute along a diagonal axis. On closer inspection, the beginnings of a second volute can be made out. The breaks were later coarsely worked with a pick to produce a plane surface. Acanthus leaf on the underside with short, deep bore channels and single bore holes. On the upper face of the abacus the handwritten note “Tempio di Romolo 1932”. One tip of the acanthus leaf has broken off. Volute slightly worn. Formerly priv. coll. L. R., California, from the estate of the collector's parents who acquired several antiquities during their travels to Europe in the 1930s. Thereafter priv. coll. Thousand Oaks, California. Roman, 2nd-3rd cent. A.D. CHF 1,800A FRAGMENT WITH CHARIOT RACE FROM THE CIRCLE OF THE LEAGROS GROUP. W. max. 12 cm. Clay, black glaze, white paint. The scene on this fragment comes from a frieze from the neck of a column krater. The pic-ture field is delimited above and below by a fine line. The lower line serves as base line for the quadriga that en-ters the picture field on the left. Close to the edge of the fragment, a part of the chariot is still recognizable. Im-mediately in front of the horses a section of the chariot from the preceding quadriga is preserved. The charioteer guides his horses with outstretched arms and wears the characteristic foldless, white chiton which is painted in added white. The reverse of the thick fragment is glazed black. Former Coll. Vicomte du Dresnay, 1918. There- after Coll. G. C., Paris. Old label with inv. no. “08036" on reverse. Attic, 510-500 B.C. CHF 2,800large part abraded. Formerly MM, Basel, 1976. Attic, ca. 530-510 B.C. CHF 12,000CQ14Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2017Farmhands, however, were only given this wine after they had drunk lora during the three months following the vintage (AC 57). Lora was made by soaking the pomace in water for a day and pressing it again. (Colu- mella, De re rustica, 12.40, NH 14.86).In contrast, the higher strata of society had the pleasure of drinking exquisite wines. The best were said to come from Caecuba and those from Falernum numbered second amongst the “grand crus”. The third place was awarded to wines from the Alban Hills and Recipe from Antiquity“Vita vinum est”Making and Drinking Wine in Ancient Rome At his notorious dinner party (cf. CQ 3/2017), Trimalchio, who had a penchant for the su-perlative, surprised his guests by bringing in “some glass jars carefully sealed with gyp-sum [and] with labels tied to their necks, inscribed, ‘Falernian of Opimius's vintage, 100 years in bottle’.” As his guests were por-ing over the labels, “Trimalchio clapped his hands and cried, ‘Ah me, so wine lives lon-ger than miserable man. So let us be merry. Wine is life (vita vinum est).’” (Petronius, Satyricon, 34).This invitation to enjoy the fleeting moment and take a stand against death – personified by a silver skeleton with movable limbs that Trimalchio placed on the table shortly after-wards – by drinking reflects an attitude wide-ly embraced in Roman culture. Numerous epitaphs which claim that visiting the baths, eating well, drinking wine and indulging in carnal love are the essence of life bear vivid testimony to this. The perhaps most famous example is the epitaph for Tiberius Claudius Secundus: “Bathing, wine and love ruin our bodies, but bathing, wine and love make life worth living. (Balnea vina Venus corrumpunt corpora nostra set vitam faciunt b[alnea] v[i-na] V[enus]).” (CLE 1318).However, Trimalchio’s bon mot “wine is life” also holds true for Roman society in a much broader sense. Pliny the Elder observes: “And if anybody cares to consider the matter more carefully, there is no department of man’s life on which more labour is spent [than viticul-ture].” (Naturalis historia, 14.137). Indeed, vi-ticulture was one of the mainstays of Roman agriculture and wine and wine-based drinks such as lora (piquette) and posca (water with wine vinegar) were drunk by all social classes, probably on a daily basis. Cato the Elder rec-ommends seven quadrantals of wine (183 li-tres) for each farmhand per year. “Give the chained slaves an additional amount propor-tioned to their work,” he adds. “It is not ex-cessive if they drink ten quadrantals of wine (262 litres) per person in a year.” (De Agri cultura, 57).The wine drunk by ordinary people was of modest quality and was usually consumed during the course of the year following its production. Generally, it was not worth aging it: Cato recommends producing 1715 litres of “wine for the familia to drink through the winter,” a quantity that “will last you until the summer solstice; whatever is left over af-ter the solstice will be a very sharp and excel-lent vinegar.” (AC 104).From left to right: A FLASK. H. 20.3 cm. Glass. Roman, 2nd-3rd cent. A.D. CHF 1,200. A LARGE BOTTLE. H. 22.2 cm. Glass. Roman, 2nd-4th cent. A.D. CHF 2,800. Lora, resinous wine, vinum familiae, leucocoum. A SLENDER BEAKER. H. 8 cm. Glass. Roman, 3rd-4th cent. A.D. CHF 1,300. A BEAKER. H. 9.5 cm. Glass. Eastern Gothic, 6th cent. A.D. CHF 1,200.By Yvonne YiuCato’s vinum familiae (AC 104)Pour 200 ml must, 40 ml sharp vinegar, 40 ml sapa (the defrutum described below will also do) and 1 l fresh water into a con-tainer. Stir with a stick thrice a day for five consecutive days. Then add 25 ml of old sea-water. Seal the container ten days later.CQ15Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2017the Sorrentine Peninsula, and the fourth to the Mamertine wines. (NH 14.61-66). Pliny maintains that noble wines (nobilia vina) could only be made from grapes growing at the very top of vines that were trained up trees, usually elms or poplars (NH 17.199). This made the vintage a dangerous task: “In Campania the vines espouse the poplars, and embracing their brides and climbing with wanton arms in a series of knots among their branches, rise level with their tops, soaring aloft to such a height that a hired vintager expressly stipulates in his contract that the cost of a funeral and a grave be covered!” (NH 14.10-11). The greatest of all Roman wines, the Opimian vintage which Trimalchio served to his guests, was named not after a wine region or produc-er but after Lucius Opimius, who was consul in 121 B.C. This year saw ideal weather, making it possible to produce wines of extraordinary quality that aged remarkably well. Writing his Brutus in 46 B.C., Cicero could still rely on it being common knowledge that the Opimi-an vintage together with wine from the con-sulate of Lucius Anicius (160 B.C.) were the most excellent wines ever to have been made (atqui hae notae sunt optimae), even though they were now past their prime. Assuming that Petronius's Satyricon was set in the Neronian period, Trimalchio’s Opimian would be more than 170 years old and utterly undrinkable, an embarrassing blunder exposing the ignorance of this nouveau riche freed slave. Writing some 10-20 years after Petronius, Pliny states that the wines produced during the consulate of Opimius “have now been reduced to the consistency of honey with a rough flavour” and that “it would not be possible to drink them neat or to counteract them with water, as their over-ripeness predominates even to the point of bitterness, though with a very small admixture they might serve as a seasoning for improving all other wines.” (NH 14.55-56).In the above quote, Pliny mentions the prac-tices of diluting wine with water and of adding certain substances to improve the wine's qual-ity, both of which were commonly employed in ancient Rome. The custom of drinking di-luted wine was widespread in ancient Greece too, but there are fundamental differences between the two cultures. The Greeks mixed wine and water in a large krater according to a specified ratio which was at times the subject of lively debate but generally ranged between 2:3 and 1:3. This meant that everybody drank wine of the same strength. In Rome, however, each guest could decide for himself how much water he wanted in his wine as the two were mixed in the drinker’s cup. For a more refresh-ing drink, snow and ice were added, and, sur-prisingly for us, hot water was also frequently used. Seneca, for instance, describes how an ailing gourmet is pitied by his friends, because his illness prevents him from “mix[ing] snow with his wine” or “reviv[ing] the chill of his drink – mixed as it is in a good-sized bowl – by chipping ice into it.” (Epistulae Mora-les, 78.23). The drunken sculptor Habinnas, who, as a grotesque parody of Alcibiades, barges into Trimalchio’s dinner party, imme-diately calls for wine and hot water: “vinum et caldam poposcit”. (Sat. 65). And Marcus Ter-entius Varro prided himself on a special table in his aviary which “is so arranged that cold and warm water flows for each guest […] by the turning of taps.” (De re rustica, 3.5.16).Lucius Columella is of the opinion, which we would certainly subscribe to today, that “the best wine [is] any kind which can keep without any preservative, nor should anything at all be mixed with it by which its natural savour would be obscured; for that wine which can please by its own natural quality alone is the most excellent.” (RR 12.19.2). Those whose “must labours under a defect” could, however, resort to a multitude of methods to improve it. Powdered marble was added to lower the acid-ity level – Cato recommends 0.6 g per litre of must – and defrutum (reduced must) was used to increase the sugar content. To improve the keeping properties of an inferior must, Cato suggests adding 24 ml defrutum per litre of must whereas Columella recommends the ad-mixture of 20-30 ml defrutum and 0.6 g roast-ed salt per litre of must. (AC 23, RR 12.21.1-2).Defrutum with the flavourings iris, fenugreek and sweet rush. A BEAKER. H. 9.4 cm. Glass. Roman, 1st-2nd cent. A.D. CHF 2,200. A RIBBED BOWL. Dm. 15.6 cm. Glass. Roman, 1st cent. A.D. CHF 3,400.The ingredients for Cato’s Greek wine: 1 l must, 1 ml salt. A RIBBED BOWL. Dm. 9.3 cm. Glass. Roman, 1st cent. A.D. CHF 1,500.Columellas defrutum (RR 12.19-20)“We shall then watch for the waning of the moon and the time when it is under the earth, and on a calm, dry day, we shall pick the ripest possible grapes. These we must tread out and before the foot has left wine press (ante quam prelo pes exi-matur) the juice must be carried from the vat to the boiling-vessels.” The must was boiled in lead vessels until was reduced by a quarter, a third, or, even better, by one half. Various herbs and other flavour-ings could be boiled together with it. “The odours […] which are generally speaking suitable for wine are iris, fenugreek and sweet rush.” The quantities recommended by Columella – 1 Roman pound each for Catos Greek Wine (AC 24)“Add to the culleus [540 l] of must two quadrantals [52,4 l] of old seawater or a modius [4,37 l] of pure salt.” For a smaller familia, 97 ml seawater or 1 ml salt added to a litre of must should suffice.Resin, salt and seawater were also frequently used to improve wines. Cato suggests adding 1.8 g powdered resin per litre of must: “Place it in a basket and suspend it in the jar of must; shake the basket often so that the resin may dissolve.” (AC 23). Wine was also given a resinous flavour by the layer of pitch used to coat the vessels intended for storing wine. According to Pliny, “the pitch most high-ly esteemed in Italy” for this purpose came from Bruttium and was “made from the resin of the pitch-pine.” (NH 14.127, RR 12.18.5-7). Whereas for us today, resinous wines like retsina wake memories of the Aegean, it was salted wine which the ancient Romans asso-ciated with Greece, and particularly with the island of Cos. “The people of Cos,” Pliny re-lates, “mix in a rather large quantity of sea-water – a custom arising from the peculation of a slave who used this method to fill up the due measure, and this mixture is poured into white must, producing what is called leuco-coum [white Coan].” (NH 14.78). Cato pro-vides a simple recipe for those who would like to make their own Greek wine:90 amphorae, i.e. 0.13 g/l – are, however, so small that their aroma is hardly per-ceptible. Defrutum was not only used to fortify wine but was a popular ingredient in Roman cookery.On occasion, rather unusual additives were thought to be necessary. “If any creature has fallen into the must and died there, such as a snake or a mouse or a shrew,” Columella ad-vises, “in order that it may not give the wine an evil odour, let the body in the condition in which it was found be burnt and its ash-es when cool be poured into the vessel into which it had fallen and stirred in with a wood-en ladle; this will cure the trouble.” (RR 12.31).CQ16Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2017HighlightAs so often happens, a fascinating ancient object poses problems and raises questions. But as experts, interested amateurs, and knowledge-able private collectors can confirm, this is par for the course in ar-chaeology, which as a discipline that entails the study of the fragmen-tary can seem rather like detective work at times.Under scrutiny here is an attractive, finely worked, marble portrait bust of the Roman Imperial Period. There can be no doubt that it is a portrait of the early Greek poet Anacreon. This much is apparent from a comparison with the other dozen or so replicas of the no longer existent bronze original. Not only are there similarities, but there are also some exact fits. The locks of hair, for example, can be counted and matched down to the tiniest detail.Anacreon was born at Teos on the Ionian coast in ca. 575 B.C. He is said to have died at the age of eighty-five, so in ca. 490 B.C. That he choked to death on a grape pip is a legend that reflects the readiness of his ancient biographers to draw on his poetic oeuvre as a source PORTRAIT OF THE GREEK POET ANACREON. Height of head as far as neck break: 31 cm. Probably Pentelic marble. Roman copy of the late 1st cent. A.D. after the Greek original of ca. 450/440 B.C. Formerly Coll. Prinz Carl Alexander von Preussen (1801-1883), Schloss Glienicke, Berlin, probably acquired in Rome in the 1840s through the good offices of Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841), possibly from the Vescovali brothers. Thereafter Coll. Ber-nard Baruch Steinitz (1933-2012), Paris. First mentioned: R. Kekulé, Anakreon, JdI 7, 1892, 120. Price on requestof information. Anacreon spent large parts of his life travelling from one ruler's residence to the next. He thrilled audiences with his verse, a good 100 fragments of which (to date) have survived, and in the judgment of posterity, his poetry came to typify the themes that wealthy men wished for at symposia: wine, women (or boys), and song. Anecdote obscured the exact details of his life story even in Antiquity, but it seems that Anacreon reached his creative acme while at the court of the tyrant Polykrates of Samos in 531 B.C. Later he was in Athens with Hipparchos, one of the Peisistratid tyrants, who was less of a politician than a friend of the arts, but was assassinated nonetheless in 514 B.C. Anacre-on became very much a public figure during this period, or so the sources tell us. Attic vase paintings of the latter years of the 6th century B.C. show him (with his name spelled out) as a singer and komast. He is also known to have cultivated a close friendship with Xanthippos, the military commander and father of Pericles. According to Pausanias, the latter had posthumous portrait stat-ues of both men – presumably the work of one of the famous Classical sculptors, Pheidias or Kresilas – prominently displayed side by side on the Acropolis of Athens in ca. 450/440 B.C. Noting how closely the replicas resembled each other even as early as 1892, Reinhard Kekulé von Stradonitz, the first archae-ologist to identify them as a distinct portrait type and to con-firm their attribution to Anacreon, argued that they should all, without exception, be read as reflections of the statue in Athens. This is remarkable inasmuch as there are literary accounts of still more dedications to Anacreon, including at least one statue in his native city. And Kekulé, apparently, was among the few to see the replica that is now at Gallery Cahn at the time it was installed at Schloss Glienicke in Berlin. From 1918 until well into the 1930s, the col-lection of the Prussian princes was systematically decimated by the sale of single pieces as well as wholesale auctions. Quite by chance, the old mould from which copies of the head had been cast – according to the label still attached to it – came to light in the Gipsformerei Berlin in 1998. A plaster cast made from the said mould reproduced the portrait in its ancient state, in other words broken off at the neck, and so confirmed that the whole herm, from the shoulders down, was in fact modern. But both the assembly of the herm, undertaken after the head had left the Berlin collection in the twentieth century, and the mounting of the cast on a plinth were en-tirely inappropriate, for both present the life-size portrait of the poet with full beard, thick curly hair, and taenia either en face or turned slightly to the left.The statuary context, however, speaks a completely different lan-guage. There the nearly nude poet stood in a casual, somewhat unsta-ble-looking pose, clad only in a little cloak, his head slightly thrown back and turned to the right, and his mouth open, captured in the act of performing a song. This much is evident from the only copy of the statue to have survived. Found in an ancient villa on Monte Calvo in the Alban Hills not far from Rome, it has been in the care of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Copenhagen since 1885: “And he is represented in such a pose as a drunken man would sing.” (Paus. 1,25,1).Anacreon, the Early Greek Poet An Important Portrait Replica Resurfaces By Martin FlasharNext >