Gemini, LLC
Auction 11 12 January 2014
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Sicily. Syracuse. 406/5 BC. Tetradrachm, 16.16g (8h). Obv: Three-quarter facing head of Arethusa, artist's signature ΚΙΜΩΝ on headband. Dotted border. Above, [ΑΡΕΘΟΣΑ]. Rx: Racing quadriga left, Nike flying right above, crowning driver; artist's signature ΚΙΜΩΝ on exergual line. In exergue, wheat ear and ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ. Tudeer 80. Jameson Coll. 1835. SNG Oxford 2004. Nanteuil Coll. 358. For the meaning of the obverse type, see W. Fischer-Bossert in S. Vogt (ed.), Gedenkschrift Manfred Gutgesell (forthcoming). Some reverse porosity. A significant amount of horn silver has been removed from this coin since the 2011 Hirsch sale. EF/VF+
Ex Gemini X, 13 January 2013, lot 21. Ex G. Hirsch 275, 22-23 September 2011, lot 3289. Ex M&M 79, 28 February and 1 March, 1994, lot 186
Kimon's facing Arethusa is one of the most famous head designs of antiquity, rivaling even the Arethusa of Euainetos' decadrachm. Like the latter, Kimon's facing Arethusa was quickly adopted by other mints in Sicily and abroad, as well as by vase painters and metal workers. The design's adoption even in remote areas such as Lycia and Cilicia shows that it got to the heart. The point is not in the boldness to show a head 3/4 facing to the observer – this idea had been in the wind for many years, though mainly among vase painters. The revolutionary attraction is in the facial expression that gives voice to a new philosophy of life. In archaic and early classical times, heads looking to front were used by both vase painters and sculptors for characterizing dying and dead warriors, as well as monsters like the Gorgons. Then, facing heads were something scary. Heads about to turn around, thus seen in three-quarter perspective, only came into fashion in early classical times, c. 470 BC. Judging from the scenarios they were used in, they are thought to characterize a process of reasoning, or a sophisticated perception like listening to music. Kimon's facing Arethusa, however, is totally different. The nymph is not acting as a mythological being, executing her role in the myth told about her and the river god Alpheios. She is not acting at all, but merely presenting herself to the observer, thereby enjoying herself rather than executing a role. This design appears to be the earliest forerunner of a new view of the Greek gods. In fifth century art, the gods were acting beings, engaged in human affairs. In fourth century art, the gods kept to themselves, enjoying their divine sphere, and no longer dealing with human trifles. On the one hand, this development accords with old Greek thinking, expressed as early as Homer who spoke of the "easy-living gods". On the other, this view of the gods is totally new, and revolutionary. The old gnawing doubt as to whether deities were really controlling human affairs, thereby setting moral standards and balancing out the many great injustices of human life, forced its way into Greek philosophy during the fifth and fourth centuries, thus leading to new designs in Greek art. So Kimon's facing Arethusa is likely to be the first, and most influential, predecessor of masterpieces of fourth century art like Praxiteles' Cnidian Aphrodite and Olympian Hermes. The short die chain this coin belongs to consists of just four dies, two obverse dies and two reverse dies, three of which were signed by Kimon, and the fourth one made by him, too. The obverse die of our coin (Tudeer's O29) might be the prototype; the late Leo Mildenberg demonstrated that Tudeer's arrangement must be modified, thereby putting O29 first and O28 second. The reverse die (R53) is a highly sophisticated variant of a famous Catanean model, the tetradrachm made by Kimon's rival Euainetos. Surprisingly in view of its importance – the influence that both the obverse and the reverse types were to exert on contemporaneous coinages, and the high esteem this die pair enjoys among coin collectors and connoisseurs of art – the die pair is extremely rare. Tudeer knew five specimens in 1913, just one of them in private hands (the Jameson coin that was to come up again in the Hunt Collection). Since then only three or four more specimens have emerged, one of them in the Ognina Hoard
Ex Gemini X, 13 January 2013, lot 21. Ex G. Hirsch 275, 22-23 September 2011, lot 3289. Ex M&M 79, 28 February and 1 March, 1994, lot 186
Kimon's facing Arethusa is one of the most famous head designs of antiquity, rivaling even the Arethusa of Euainetos' decadrachm. Like the latter, Kimon's facing Arethusa was quickly adopted by other mints in Sicily and abroad, as well as by vase painters and metal workers. The design's adoption even in remote areas such as Lycia and Cilicia shows that it got to the heart. The point is not in the boldness to show a head 3/4 facing to the observer – this idea had been in the wind for many years, though mainly among vase painters. The revolutionary attraction is in the facial expression that gives voice to a new philosophy of life. In archaic and early classical times, heads looking to front were used by both vase painters and sculptors for characterizing dying and dead warriors, as well as monsters like the Gorgons. Then, facing heads were something scary. Heads about to turn around, thus seen in three-quarter perspective, only came into fashion in early classical times, c. 470 BC. Judging from the scenarios they were used in, they are thought to characterize a process of reasoning, or a sophisticated perception like listening to music. Kimon's facing Arethusa, however, is totally different. The nymph is not acting as a mythological being, executing her role in the myth told about her and the river god Alpheios. She is not acting at all, but merely presenting herself to the observer, thereby enjoying herself rather than executing a role. This design appears to be the earliest forerunner of a new view of the Greek gods. In fifth century art, the gods were acting beings, engaged in human affairs. In fourth century art, the gods kept to themselves, enjoying their divine sphere, and no longer dealing with human trifles. On the one hand, this development accords with old Greek thinking, expressed as early as Homer who spoke of the "easy-living gods". On the other, this view of the gods is totally new, and revolutionary. The old gnawing doubt as to whether deities were really controlling human affairs, thereby setting moral standards and balancing out the many great injustices of human life, forced its way into Greek philosophy during the fifth and fourth centuries, thus leading to new designs in Greek art. So Kimon's facing Arethusa is likely to be the first, and most influential, predecessor of masterpieces of fourth century art like Praxiteles' Cnidian Aphrodite and Olympian Hermes. The short die chain this coin belongs to consists of just four dies, two obverse dies and two reverse dies, three of which were signed by Kimon, and the fourth one made by him, too. The obverse die of our coin (Tudeer's O29) might be the prototype; the late Leo Mildenberg demonstrated that Tudeer's arrangement must be modified, thereby putting O29 first and O28 second. The reverse die (R53) is a highly sophisticated variant of a famous Catanean model, the tetradrachm made by Kimon's rival Euainetos. Surprisingly in view of its importance – the influence that both the obverse and the reverse types were to exert on contemporaneous coinages, and the high esteem this die pair enjoys among coin collectors and connoisseurs of art – the die pair is extremely rare. Tudeer knew five specimens in 1913, just one of them in private hands (the Jameson coin that was to come up again in the Hunt Collection). Since then only three or four more specimens have emerged, one of them in the Ognina Hoard