![2nd of 2 images]({"src":"//img.bruun-rasmussen.dk/g/BRFull/Bredgade/897/883060-1c_400x400.jpg?v=5","srcset":"//img.bruun-rasmussen.dk/g/BRFull/Bredgade/897/883060-1c_800x800.jpg?v=5 2x"})
Macedonia, Neapolis, Stater, c. 520–480 BC, SNG ANS 410, cf. HGC 583, 9.02 g.
The fascinating obverse shows the facing head of a Gorgon - an immortal “witch”. The Gorgon was so vile that everyone who saw her were turned into stone. The most notorious of the Gorgons was of course Medusa - a beautiful young woman, whom Athena in jealousy cursed to become a monster after finding out about a liaison between her and the sea-god Poseidon.
The incuse geometric reverse which stands out from the usual mill-sail type is a very rare variation.
Like Janus the concept of beauty seems to have two faces and few people walk through life without realizing that an unreflective quest for beauty sometimes bring out some of the worst sides of the human psyche e.g. envy and jealosy. Beauty in art in its most serene form often leaves the spectator fulfilled, but passive. The rendering of horror personified however can - on an aesthetic level - be just as beautiful but also harbours the power to raise fundamental questions and feelings we are otherwise afraid to recognize.
A wonderful ancient art work, perfectly centered, nicely toned and of a superior style boasting an almost frightening realism.
Provenance: Apollo to Apollo collection. The present example is featured as number 36.1 in the recently published book by Henrik Bo Andersen, Apollo to Apollo: The Hunt for the Divine and Eternal Beauty (ISBN 978–87-970890–0-2) and is illustrated on a full plate (p. 205).
CGB Fr. XVIII 19th June 2003, lot 59
Cover coin on the French magazine “Numismatique et Change de Paris”, No. 339, June 2003 with the feature article, “Monnaies grecques - Pourquoi les collectionner?”
Old French collection brought together in the 1930s.
EF
Coin & medals, 2 November 2020
Not sold