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Artemis Gallery LIVE will get the jump on the Ides of March with a March 14, auction of fine antiquities, Pre-Columbian, Far Eastern, Native-American and ethnographic art.
“This auction is truly special,” said Teresa Dodge, owner of Artemis Gallery LIVE. “Our usual offering of authentic ancient art is complemented by unique and exciting African, Native-American and Spanish Colonial pieces it’s like taking a trip around the world, without leaving the comfort of your home, since it is an online event.” LiveAuctioneers will provide the Internet live-bidding services for the auction.
The sale begins its voyage with the splendor of the ancient Classical world. The timeless beauty of Egyptian art is on full display with brilliant blue ushabtis, bronze and faience amulets, and an important Egyptian Diorite Conical Offering Bowl (Lot 1A), impressively sized and stunning in form. The elegance of Ancient Greece is embodied by a rare and spectacular Greek Attic lekythos that depicts Ariadne leading two satyrs to a Bacchic ritual (Lot 20). Northern Greece was the source of an exceptional Hallstadt Bronze Situla (Lot 19).
The mighty Roman Empire is well represented. A grouping of elegant marble statues includes a stately Roman marble head of Jupiter (Lot 48A) with curly beard and expressive eyes and mouth, a pudgy Roman marble statue of Eros (Lot 48B) with dimpled knees and prominent belly, and a tall and elegant statue of the Satyr Silenus, an all-around party animal, clad in a voluminously draped garment (Lot 48C).
Additionally, the Roman offerings include an exceptionally fine collection of Roman glass, beautifully preserved with striking iridescence ranging from the fiery to the richly elegant (Lots 43-71A). Highlights include a deep blue Roman Glass Pitcher (Lot 60), gorgeously decorated with frills resembling a Greek woman’s peplos, the ancient inspiration for today’s trendy peplum top. An impressive Roman glass baby feeder positively glows with iridescence (Lot 54), and a glass unguent proudly displays the colors of the rainbow (Lot 56). Finally, a Late Roman/Early Byzantine Mosaic (Lot 70B), formerly exhibited at the Halie Ford Museum of Art in Salem, Oregon, gives a colorful glimpse into ancient interiors.
Leaving the classical world, the auction moves to Northern Europe, with jewelry and weaponry that illustrate both the artistry and power of the mighty Vikings (Lots 73-77). From there, the auction moves to the Far East, where magnificent funerary sculptures include a nine-piece set of processional statues (Lot 78E), finely crafted with humor and pathos. Also from China is a Han Dynasty royal court lady (Lot 78A), whose dress reveals her to be an ancient fashion plate. The mystical beauty of the Buddha is captured by a large Qi Dynasty stone Buddha head (Lot 78G). Our journey through Asia comes to a close with a Chinese Qing Dynasty 50 taels silver sycee, a major form of Chinese currency for more than 1,000 years (Lot 78I).
Exploration of the New World begins with a beautifully carved Olmec stone figurine (Lot 80) and moves through the various representative cultures of Pre-Columbian art. Highlights include a Pre-Columbian Loma Negra gold nose ornament (81B), finely crafted to depict a string of crabs catching fish; a truly exceptional Colima Comala transforming shaman (Lot 86), and an Ulua Mayan cylinder with winged “angel” figures (101A). Also of note is a Mayan stone palma (Lot 101F) from the private collection of a Hollywood producer/director and the late Santa Fe, N.M., dealer Ron Messick; and a massive/complete Mayan incensario (Lot 101G). The important Quimbaya Poporo gold vessel (Lot 103B) is as charming as it is impressive at 150 grams of gold. A colorful Costa Rican Nicoya polychrome jaguar vessel (Lot 107) captures the magic of a shaman assuming animal form.
The prehistoric Native American Mimbres bowl (Lot 120A), also from a private Hollywood, Calif., collection, invites contemplation of what prehistoric Arizona might have looked like. A magnificent antique rattlesnake basket from the Yokuts tribe of Tulare County, Calif., showcases Native-American craftsmanship at its finest (Lot 123), and a series of stunning antique Mexican retablos and ex-votos blend folk art with religious iconography in a perfect marriage of Old and New World splendor (Lots 127A-129J).
Finally, the auction turns to Africa, with such important pieces as the Lobi wood female figure (131B) and the Bamana wood granary door, (Lot 142), both deaccessioned from the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta.
Artemis Gallery’s Antiquities, Pre-Columbian & Ethnographic Art Auction will start at 11 am. EST on Friday, March 14, 2014. Bids may be placed through a variety of methods: absentee (including absentee online), by phone (by prior arrangement) or live on auction day on LiveAuctioneers. The auction catalog is now online and ready for viewing.
For additional information about the auction, call Teresa Dodge at 720-502-5289 or email artemisgallerylive[.]gmail.com mailto:antiquitiessaleroom[.]gmail.com
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artemisgallerylive[.]gmail.com 
