< PreviousCQ Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2019 10 B34 D1 99 51248 249 103 118114183CQ Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2019 11 Recipe from Antiquity By Yvonne Yiu ing, cutting, roasting and cooking. Parodying Book 9 of Homer's Odyssey, the play describes Odysseus’s encounter with Polyphemus. The one-eyed giant accuses the hero and his com- panions of theft and drives them into his cave to sacrifice them, “to no other god but me and my stomach here, the greatest of divinities." The “cook from hell" (Aidou mageiros) expert- ly handles the equipment required to perform the sacrifice: the sphageion, a large vessel used to collect the blood, the double axe (pelekys) with which the victim is killed, and the sacri- ficial knife (machaira), with which the meat is cut up. His expertise also extends to the cook- ing of the food. With the joyful anticipation of a gourmet, he roasts the tender pieces on the fire, “a hot feast from the coals" and throws the tougher limbs into the cauldron to “boil them meltingly tender.” (Euripides, Cyclops 243-6, 335, 394-404). Cratinus's Odysseis (before 423 B.C.), a frag- mentarily preserved parody on the same theme, lists not only the cooking techniques of the Cyclops, but also the sauces in which he dips the meat: “In return for which, I shall grab you, ‘O trusty comrades mine’ and toast you, and boil you, and grill you over char- coal, and roast you, and into sea water/brine (alme), and vinegar brine (oxalme) and garlic brine (skorodalme) I will dip you, and the one that looks to me the tastiest of the lot, I will gobble him down, my good soldiers!” (Ath. 385c-d/Edmonds, Cratinus Fr. 143). The Art of the Mageiros “No one who does wrong to a cook (magei- ros) ever escapes completely unharmed. Our art has an aura of sanctity about it, I suppose. With the table attendant (trapezopoios) you can do what you like,” the cook Sikon notes with some satisfaction after hearing that the bad-tempered old man, Knemon, fell into a well after refusing to lend him a cooking pot. (Menander, Dyskolos 644-7). The close ties between the art of cookery and the performance of sacred rites – something the cooks of Middle and New Attic Comedy liked to preen themselves with – lead back to the origin of the profession of the mageiros that first becomes tangible in written sources of the 5th century B.C. In Ancient Greece, the slaughter of an animal was always performed in conjunction with an act of sacrifice. Certain pieces of the beast were burned as an offer- ing to the gods and then the remaining meat was cooked and eaten. In Homeric and Archaic times, the men of a household (oikos) were re- sponsible for these tasks and in the case of state sacrifices they were performed by the priestly nobility. The Iliad and Odyssey describe how heralds (kerykes) fetched the animals, sacri- ficed them and prepared the meal while dis- tributors (daitroi) shared out the meat to those present. (Il. 3.116-8, 18.558-9, Od. 17.331-5). Scholars assume that the persons who carried out these duties did so only from time to time, on specific occasions, and not as their main occupation. Gradually, however, a degree of professionalisation set in, possibly initially at popular sanctuaries where local people lent a helping hand to the visitors who came to sacri- fice to the gods. For example, it was said of the people of Delos, “that they used to supply the services of mageiroi and table-attendants to all who came to Delos for the sacred rites.” (Athe- naeus, Deipnosophistae 172f). By the Classical Period, the professional profile of the magei- ros had taken on its definitive shape. It was so self-evident which tasks he specialised in that Sophists could even use them for their trick questions. Socrates, for instance, recounts a discussion he had with Euthydemus: “Well, he asked, do you know what is each craftsman’s special piece of work? Whose proper task is it to slaughter and skin, and after cutting up the joints to stew and roast? – That of the magei- ros, I said. – Now, if one does one’s proper work, he said, one will do rightly? – Certainly. – And is it, as you say, the mageiros’s proper work to cut up and skin? Did you admit this or not? – I did so, I replied, but pray forgive me. – It is clear then, he proceeded, that if someone slaughters the mageiros and cuts him up, and then stews or roasts him, he will be doing his proper work. – O Poseidon! I exclaimed, there you give the finishing touch to your wisdom!” (Plato, Euthydemus 301c-d). In his satyr play Cyclops (411/408 B.C.), Eu- ripides draws a gruesomely grotesque picture of a mageiros who skilfully executes the tasks described in the Platonic dialogue – slaughter- Lentils, poached fish and mulberry sauce. A BOWL. Dm. 25.5 cm. Clay. Western Greek, 4th cent. B.C. CHF 1,700. A PLATE. Dm. 12.5 cm. Clay. Attic, 400-375 B.C. CHF 600. A BOTTLE. H. 21.5 cm. Glass. Roman, 1st-2nd cent. A.D. CHF 2,900. A SMALL BOWL. H. 4.3 cm. Glass. Roman, 1st-3rd cent. A.D. CHF 2,600. Polyphemus’s Sauces (Ath. 385c-d/Edmonds, Cratinus Fr. 143) Alme: Filter sea water and boil for a few minutes to purify it. Alternatively, dis- solve 4 g sea salt in 100 ml water. Ox- alme: Mix equal amounts of vinegar and alme. This sauce was used not only for meat, but also for fish: “A large fish was now served in oxalme , [and one of the guests] observed that any fish dish served in oxalme was very tasty." (Ath. 385b). Skorodalme: Crush 4 cloves of garlic and CQ Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2019 12 Although the Cyclops acts like an accom- plished mageiros in the plays by Cratinus and Euripides, he is, of course, a mageiros only in the figurative sense. Indeed, a professional cook never makes an appearance in Old Attic Comedy and it is only occasionally that the protagonist is said to display the skill of a mageiros. For example, the chorus comments on Dikaiopolis’s preparations for the Choes festival, saying: “See, how he knows his busi- ness, like a cook (mageirikos)! How well he understands the way to prepare a good din- ner!” (Aristophanes, Acharnians, 1015-7). When, however, in Middle and New Attic Comedy the focus of the plays shifted from politics to the representation of daily life, the professional cook could step into the lime- light. Conceited and verbose, the mageiros typically enjoyed delivering lengthy speeches highlighting his attainments, much to the de- spair of the host, who exasperatedly tried to interrupt the flow of words: “Mince the meat, not my eardrums!” or groaned in resignation: “Lord! What with your dishes and kandau- loi and skins, the pleasure is gone before the feast begins.” (Ath. 386a, 516c/Edmonds, Alexis Fr. 172-3). In the cities, mageiroi offered their services on the marketplace and were hired by per- sons who wished to sacrifice or hold a ban- quet. Competition was fierce and thus they had no qualms about reviling each other. “When taking on a mageiros,” one host re- lates, “I heard all the insults they said against each other in competing for work: one does not have a discerning nose for a cooked dish, another has a foul palate, another has pol- luted his tongue on unseemly desires for fla- vourings, or ‘too much vinegar’, ‘too much salt’, ‘burns the meat’, ‘too sweet a tooth’, ‘can’t stand the smoke’, ‘is afraid of the fire’.” (Ath. 661f/Edmonds, Poseidippus Fr. 1). Con- versely, the cooks in Attic Comedy liked to brag about their culinary feats. The mageirios in The Brothers by Hegesippus, for instance, boasts: “Whenever I chance to be working at a funeral feast, as soon as they come from the carrying-out procession dressed in black, I take off the lid of the pot and make them turn from tears to laughter. Such a pleasant sensation runs through their bodies, as if they were at a wedding. – Just by serving lentil soup and sardines? – They are a sideshow for me. But if I get my way and arrange the kitchen as I want today, then you will see the Sirens at it once again. With a savour like that, no one will be able simply to walk past this alley. Every passer-by will instant- ly stand open-mouthed at the door, nailed to the wall, speechless until one of his friends runs along with his nostrils bunged up and drags him off.” (Ath. 290b/Edmonds, Hege- sippus Fr. 1). Lentil Soup (phake) (after Ath. 290d/Edmonds, Hegesippus Fr. 1) Soak 300 g lentils overnight and cook in 6-8 dl stock until done (about 15 minutes). The Stoic Chrysippus of Soloi recommend- ed the addition of onions; the Presocratic philosopher Zeno of Elea liked his soup with plenty of coriander seeds; in a come- dy by Antiphanes it was served with sliced sausage and the young men of Athens spiced it up with a dash of vinegar. These young men should be avoided, a mageiros warns his apprentice, when they “get up a subscription dinner and put into the urn what money they can find” in order to pay for the food and drink. At such a dinner you “get beaten […] and have to work all night. If you ask them for a little fee one says ‘first bring me the pisspot. The lentil soup lacked vinegar.’ You ask again. ‘You will be the first cook to get a good hiding,’ he says.” (Ath. 158b, 160d, 292d/Edmonds, Diphilus Fr. 43) mix with 2 tbsp sea water. This sauce may be an archetype of skorodalia, a garlic sauce popular in modern Greece. Skoro- dalia: Soak 4 slices of white bread in wa- ter, squeeze out excess liquid and puree together with 4 cloves of garlic, 4 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp vinegar and ½ tsp salt. A COMIC ACTOR, POSSIBILY A COOK. H. 8.7 cm. Bronze. Greek, 4th cent. B.C. CHF 14,500 The food the cooks of Attic Comedy were most passionate about was fish. The magei- ros in Philemon’s Soldier, for instance, is propelled before the audience by an intense urge to relate a tour de force of culinary minimalism: “A desire has come over me to come out and to declare to earth and heaven how I prepared this dish! What a tender fish I had! And how I served it! Not drugged with cheeses nor in a flowery presentation. But when baked it was just like it was when alive.” This sublime dish engendered a feed- ing frenzy amongst the guests: “The first of the diners who discovered the pleasure to be found in the stewing-pot jumped up and ran off in a circle with the dish in his hands and the others chased hard on his heels. They screamed out loud, for some of them grabbed a bit and others got nothing.” (Ath. 288d/Edmonds, Philemon Fr. 79). By con- trast, the mageiros in Locked Up Women by Sotades prepares a fish menu of epic dimen- sions. In a lengthy monologue he explains how he cooked 14 different types of fish and crusteacans: “First I got some prawns. I fried all these in a pan. Next a fine shark: I baked the middle piece and boiled the rest after the mulberry sauce had been prepared. Then I carried in two huge heads of greyfish. These I flung into a mighty stewpot, lightly adding green herbs, cumin, salt, water, and some oil. […] A nice dish is boiled squid stuffed, as are the lateral fins of the cuttle gently roasted […].” In the wake of this aristeia in the battle- field of the kitchen, the mageiros concludes with smug satisfaction: “What’s left? Nothing else! This is my entire art!” (Ath. 293a-e/Ed- monds, Sotades Fr. 1). Poached Fish in Mulberry Sauce (after Ath. 293b/Edmonds, Sotades Fr. 1) Poach the fish for ca. 8 minutes in a broth made of 3 dl water, a handful of fresh herbs, ½ tsp cumin seeds, ½ tsp salt and 1 tbsp olive oil. To make the mulberry sauce, gently simmer 200 g mulberries and 1 tbsp honey until the desired con- sistency is reached.CQ Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2019 13 Ideal and Individual New Artworks Monthly on www.cahn.ch A HEAD OF A CYCLADIC IDOL. H. 10.2 cm. Marble. The head of a Cycladic idol, an Early Spedos type, commonly produced on Cycladic islands such as Naxos, though they have also been found sporadically on Crete and mainland Greece. The face is convex when viewed from the front and has markedly oval-shaped cheeks. The forehead is flat- tened horizontally at the crown and slopes downward to the pronounced long, vertical nose. The back of the head is smooth and vertical. Preserved head; some discoloration along the left side of the face. Formerly with N. Koutoulakis, Switzerland, 1960s, thence by descent in the family. Thereafter priv. coll., Belgium, 1990s. Thereafter, priv. coll. Con- neticut, USA, acquired London 2012. Greece, Cyclades, Early Cycladic II, 2600–2500 B.C. CHF 38,000 A STATUETTE OF A KOUROS. H. 10.9 cm. Bronze. The nude youth stands frontally on a square plinth in the static pose typical of kouroi. His arms hang straight down and his hands rest against his thighs. The left leg is slightly advanced. The broad shoulders and muscular legs contrast attractively with his slender waist. He wears his hair in a cap-like coiffure, the individual strands of which are rendered by fine incisions. The hair below the nape of the neck is arranged in six broad strands that cascade over his shoulders. Slender face with al- mond-shaped eyes, fine nose, full lips and pronounced chin. A hole in the plinth and its slight curvature indicate that the kouros was originally an attachment. Slightly worn. Formerly Coll. Thétis, Geneva, Switzerland, prior to 1970. Published: J.-L. Zimmermann, Collection de la Fondation Thétis (Geneva, 1987) 146, no. 71 with bibli- ography. East Greek, mid-6th cent. B.C. CHF 9,500 A STATUETTE OF A YOUTH HOLDING PAN PIPES. H. 10.1 cm. Bronze, solid cast. The youth stands up- right, distributing his weight evenly on both feet. These are placed close together with the left foot slightly ad- vanced. The youth presses his panpipes to his chest with his left hand. His right arm hangs down loosely next to his body. The facial features engraved after casting. Fine drill holes through the feet and the head. Right hand and front part of left foot missing. Formerly Coll. Meierhans, Zurich, acquired in 1982 from Wölflund Hiermann, Wis- senschaftliche Instrumente. Cahn Auktion 4, 2002, Lot 340. Etruscan, 490–470 B.C. CHF 6,800CQ Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2019 14 A RED-FIGURE KYLIX WITH ATHLETES. Dm. 16.5 cm. Clay. Cup on twice profiled ring-foot with high wall and two loop handles. Central medallion with double frame representing an athlete to right, his right arm akimbo. He holds a strigil in his left hand and stands in front of a turning post in a palaestra. Exterior: On each side an ath- lete between tendrils with lotus blossoms. A palmette below each handle. Below, a red band. Concentric circles of differing widths around a dot on the underside. Reserved bands and interior of handles as well as the area between them partially reddened. Reassembled, one fragment of the wall restored; breaks partially retouched. Formerly priv. coll., acquired from Charles Ede Ltd., London, 1977. Attic, ca. 430–420 B.C. CHF 12,000 A HEAD OF A BEARDED MAN. H. 9 cm. Terracotta. Pre- cisely formed, mould-made head of a man. Curly hair frames the forehead. Seperately made full beard structured by impressions made with a modelling stick. Probably from a so-called Tarentine symposiast. These terracotta statuettes of reclining men were produced in Tarentine workshops in the 5th-4th centuries B.C. The figures are distinguished by their ornate headdresses (not preserved here). Reverse is not modelled. Moustache not preserved. Formerly priv. coll. Tom Virzi (1881-1974), New York. Thereafter Galleria Casa Serodine, Ascona, Switzerland, 1994. Thereafter priv. coll. Switzerland. Published: Casa Serodine Ascona, Cat. Terrakotten aus Westgriechenland, 1.4.-31.5.1994, no. 53. Western Greek, late 5th–1st half of 4th cent. B.C. CHF 5,500 A VOTIVE HEAD. H. 27 cm. Terracotta (reddish-grey clay with black inclusions). Veiled votive head with the begin- nings of the neck and bust. Mould-made face of indeter- minate sex with narrow eyes framed by thick lids, high cheeks and a small mouth with full lips. Hair articulated as short curls that look as if carelessly tossed over the fore- head as well as peeping out from below the ears. Below them the ends of a fillet in flat relief. Domed reverse with smoothed surface. Firing hole on the top face. Votive heads of this kind were set up in sanctuaries and were wide- spread in Etruria and Central Italy (Latium and Campania) throughout the Late Classical and Hellenistic period. Point of attachment to the bust restored (front). Minor chipping. Formerly priv. coll. Yvette and Jacques Deschamps, France. Etruria or Central Italy, 4th–3rd cent. B.C. CHF 6,800 A LEKYTHOS IN THE MANNER OF THE LM PAINTER. H. 22 cm. Clay. A finely modelled lekythos, with a woman walking in haste to the right, bearing a small chest decorat- ed with geometric patterns in her outsretched right hand. She wears a a filmy chiton, bracelets, an earring and her hair gathered in a chignon. Restored at handle. Formerly, Levylle Collection, France in the 20th century. Thereafter with Jacques Schulman, since 1981 or earlier. Published: Verkooplijst met vaste prijzen, catalogue 220, Amsterdam, 1981, p. 12, no. 29. Thereafter, in the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Louk van Roozendaal, Holland, 1983-2018. Attic, ca. 420 B.C. CHF 8,800 AN OINOCHOE FRAGMENT WITH PTOLEMAIC RULER. H. 8 cm. Faience. The man turns his head far to the left and wears a muscle cuirass and chlamys. The hilt of his sword is preserved. The man’s physiognomy and the con- text in which the fragment can be situated identify him as a Ptolemaic ruler. From a faience vessel, a fragment of the adjoining wall preserved. The Ptolemaic oinochoai, ceramics with decoration in relief that were produced in Egypt in the 3rd-2nd cent. B.C., form a group that is clear- ly defined by the material, decoration and iconography employed. Usually Ptolemaic queens were portrayed. The representation of male members of the dynasty is the ex- ception. Possibly originally (partly) gilded. Formerly coll. Paolo Morigi (1939–2017), Casa Calao, Lugano, Switzer- land. Egypt, Ptolemaic, 3rd-2nd cent. B.C. CHF 7,000CQ Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2019 15 A SILVER RING WITH THE PORTRAIT OF A BOY. Dm. max. 1.9 cm. H. 2.1 cm. Parcel-gilt silver. Oval ring plate offset by a groove at the edge. The engraving de- picts the bust of a boy to left with short, straight hair and strands of hair combed into his face. This hairstyle was typically worn by boys in the Trajanic Period. Par- cel-gilt. Intact. Formerly priv. coll. S. Y., North West Lon- don, acquired before 2000. Roman, late 1st–early 2nd cent. A.D. CHF 3,800 A RELIEF HEAD OF THE EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS. H. 19 cm. Marble. Slightly under life-size profile head of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius with short curls, beard as incised moustache and raised, densely packed cheek and chin beard, heavy upper eyelid and arched eyebrow. The fragment might have been connected to an official state monument that would have served the emperor as a means of presenting himself in public, while at the same time legitimizing his rule (cf. for example the historical reliefs in the Palazzo dei Conservatori). Round drill hole in the top of the head. Reverse smoothed and chipped. Nose, chin and lips worn. Reddish patina. Formerly priv. coll. M. U., Paris, acquired in the 1980s. Roman, ca. 145–160 A.D. CHF 22,000 AN INTAGLIO WITH WOMAN'S HEAD. H. 1.3 cm. Car- nelian. This oval carnelian gem in a rich orange hue is incised with the bust of a woman facing right. Her hair is gathered in a low chignon typical of the Anto- nine period. Elements of the facial features and coiffure are similar to coin portraits of Empress Crispina, the ill-fated wife of Commodus. Exceptionally fine carving. Formerly priv. coll. Koppenwallner, since the 1970s, Co- logne, Germany, there after by descent in the family. Roman, 2nd cent. A.D. CHF 4,800 A TETRADRACHM, REIGN OF ANTIOCHOS VII EUER- GETES (138-129 B.C.). 20 g. Silver. Obverse: Head of the Seleucid Antiochos VII Euergetes with fillet in his hair facing right. Reverse: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ ΕΥΕΡGE- TOΥ . Standing Athena facing left with helmet, lance and shield. On her outstretched right hand a Nike holding a wreath. Below, the monogramms HPA and AB. A laurel wreath surrounds the composition. Formerly Coll. Stanley D. Scott. Tarsos, 138-129 B.C. CHF 2,600 A HEAD OF A WOMAN WITH ELABORATE COIFFURE. H. 4.7 cm. Reddish clay. The head is dominated by an artistically arranged, voluminous mass of hair that is probably a wig. The coiffure is composed of several narrow segments that radiate in all directions from the central parting and form a wavy fringe above the fore- head. Horizontal grooves provide further visual inter- est. The hair is tied together in a chignon at the nape of the neck. The plump, oval face with a distinct dou- ble chin is characterised by flattened clay balls for the eyes, prominent eyebrows, chubby cheeks and a small mouth with full lips. Spherical earrings. Slightly worn in two places. Formerly priv. coll. Jacline Mazard, New York, USA, 1975–2016. Roman Egypt, 3rd cent. A.D. CHF 1,800CQ Cahn’s Quarterly 4/2019 16 Highlight Cut stones, intaglios and cameos can be ex- ceptionally exquisite. Others, like those born of folk belief in a form resembling magic am- ulets, are quite plain. But if, as here, in a tiny format just two centimetres high, they show an exceptionally finely carved and beautiful- ly detailed portrait bust of a woman, there can be no doubt that we are dealing with an imperial portrait. To cut to the chase, the sub- ject in this case is Faustina the Younger. Annia Galeria Faustina, born ca. 130 A.D., was the daughter of the Roman Emperor An- toninus Pius (r. 138 to 161 A.D.) and his wife, the eponymous Faustina the Elder, which is why she was henceforth called Faustina Mi- nor. The wife of Marcus Aurelius (r. 161 to 180 A.D.), she is often judged negatively in ancient sources, which is perhaps surprising given the high esteem in which her husband was held as the intellectual and “philosopher king” who with his Meditations bequeathed posterity a remarkable work in the tradition of Stoa. Faustina’s negative image is appar- ently attributable mainly to her son Com- modus, Marcus Aurelius’ successor, whom ancient sources frowned on, not least on ac- count of his gladiatorial antics in the amphi- theatre. The question of progeny loomed very large for the “adopted emperors,” whose adher- ence to the dynastic imperative verged on the obsessive. The problem had presented itself even for Emperor Hadrian (r. 117 to 138 A.D.), who having no biological offspring of his own, had hastily adopted Antoninus shortly before his death. This all changed with An- toninus’ daughter, Faustina Minor, who bore her husband thirteen children. Not all of them lived very long and some died shortly after birth. Her fecundity was nevertheless fêted as an accomplishment even then. It is the ar- chaeologist Klaus Fittschen we have to thank for having undertaken a ground-breaking study of the coin portraits of Faustina Minor, in which he not only differentiates and cat- alogues the many different types of portrait, but also links the historical place and time of their minting to the empress’s many de- liveries. For why else should a woman (even an empress) be accorded nine new portrait types? able proof of an iconographic tradition that extended from Roman Antiquity until well into the Early Middle Ages. Klaus Fittschen, Die Bildnistypen der Faustina minor und die Fecunditas Augustae, Abh. der Akad. der Wiss. Göt- tingen, Philolog.-Histor. Klasse, Dritte Folge no. 126 (Göt- tingen 1982); Stefan Priwitzer, Faustina Minor – Ehefrau eines Idealkaisers und Mutter eines Tyrannen (Bonn 2009). PENDANT WITH THE PORTRAIT OF EMPRESS FAUSTINA THE YOUNGER. H. 2.6 cm. Gold, carnelian. Roman, ca. 162 B.C. CHF 40,000 The introduction of Fe- cunditas on the reverse of many of the coins bearing Faustina's likeness seems to confirm this. Fertility is per- sonified as a standing, ful- ly-clad female figure hold- ing a sceptre and an infant. The analysis of this very fine carnelian reveals the following details of the pro- file head: hair swept out from the crown in parallel strands (no sign of the “mel- on coiffure” of the earlier Faustina portraits); a tripar- tite fillet, or at any rate no “crown-like” diadem; a low bun at the nape of the neck consisting of coiled braids, rather than loose strands of hair; a small, slightly coiled braid falling down onto the neck; a two-part styling of the hair from the forehead and temples to the back of the head with spiralling curls hanging down at the front and slightly kinked parallel strands towards the back. The many different por- traits of Faustina are not easily told apart, but after reviewing them it would seem that our intaglio comes closest to type no. 8, created in 162 A.D. on the occasion of the birth of Faustina’s son, Annius Verus. The empress herself died in 176 A.D. One indication of the value attached to Ro- man imperial intaglios, incidentally, is the fact that the Merowingian and Frankish kings were still sealing official documents with them as late as the 9th century, occa- sionally appending an explicit reference to the ancient ruler depicted. This custom re- mained exclusive, but is nevertheless valu- A Gem for a Birth An Intaglio Portrait of the Roman Empress Faustina Minor By Martin Flashar The impression of the intaglio highlights the quality of its craftsmanship. Next >