Embossed plaque featuring two veiled dancers. - Lot 56

Embossed plaque featuring two veiled dancers. The figure on the left performs a dance step, while the other holds a musical instrument. The scene is framed by a frieze. Four mounting holes in the corners. Both are wearing a chiton covered with a himation. Large folds of fabric flutter behind them. Stamped gold decoration. Scythian art, Kerch, Kul-Oba site, 350 B.C. 4.6 x 4.6 cm; weight: 5 g Provenance: From a copy of the collectors' notes, acquired from Spink in London on July 14, 1954. Our plaque is part of a group of objects from the excavations of the Scythian kurgans of Koul-Oba directed by the French archaeologist Paul du Brux in 1830. Most of the treasure is now in the Hermitage and was published in Antiquités du Bosphore Cimmérien in 1854. Today, the pieces are scattered throughout private and public collections. The Cabinet des Médailles de la Bibliothèque Nationale acquired some from Raoul-Rochette. Our plaque is believed to be one of 4 in the Hermitage Museum, sold to an English collector during the Soviet government's art auctions. It's hard to say whether it's ours or one of the other three, but Hermitage plates are cited and described in various reference publications, including : KONDAKOV, N., REINACH, S., TOLSTOÏ, J., Antiquités de la Russie méridionale, ed. Ernest Leroux, 1891, p. 189. HEUZEY, L., Monuments grecs, l'Association pour l'encouragement des études grecques en France, n°3, 1874, p. 26. DURUY, V., Histoire des Romains, t. VI, Akademisch Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz ed. 1879-1885, p. 413. Collection Nicole et Jean-Michel Thierry - lots 1 to 141.