By Carter B. Horsley

Some of the choicest antiquities are miniatures as this auction well demonstrates.

While many fledging collectors are thrilled to own small bronze statuettes, ancient jewelry is often smaller and the silver and gold pieces more spectacular and the ancient jewelry category are still quite undervalued in the art market.

Gold and silver statuettes often tend to have survived more intact that those of lesser metals simply because of their intrinsic values and diminutive size.

Lot 14, for example, shown at the top of this article, is a very charming and impressive Hellenistic gold figure of Harpokrates, circa 1st Century B.C., that is only 1 ½ inches tall but is quite a busy and robust composition. The solid-cast piece, shows Harpokrates standing on a plinth with a turtle at his feet, a dog to his right, and an eagle in front of a large tree stump at his left upon which is coiled a uraeus. The figure is nude except for a mantle over his right shoulder and his wavy hair is topped with an Egyptian crown and he holds a cornucopia in his left hand. A suspension loop is located between his wings. A similar piece is in the collection of the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore. This is truly a spectacular and great piece and has a conservative estimate of $25,000 to $35,000. It sold for $3,760, including the buyer's premium as do all results in this article.

A larger and less complex work is Lot 50, a Roman gilt silver figure is Isis/Fortuna, circa 1st Century A.D., that is 2 ¾ inches tall. The piece has an impressive sense of dignity and grace despite its small size and is quite vigorously modeled with very nice detailing in the face, the tresses and the folds of the voluminous himation draped over her right shoulder as well as the "abundant" cornucopia she holds in her left hand. The goddess is crowned with a gilt kalathos. The estimate is $25,000 to $35,000. It failed to sell.

The cover illustration of the catalogue is Lot 71, a Greek Gold and garnet pin, Hellenistic Period, circa late 4th to 3rd Century, B.C., 2 5/8 inches long. The spectacular pin has a tapering gold wire wrapped base that terminates in a color adorned with filigree twisted wire in two zones, one forming tongues, the other with spirals. The gold base is topped with a garnet bust of Pan with a large phallus served as a back pillar. The bust of the god is sculpted with exquisite detail and shows him with a long forked beard and full mustache, a pug nose, prominent cheekbones and curving horns and pointed ears overlapping his long shaggy hair. The museum-quality lot has a conservative estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. It failed to sell.

Two other lots from the same period that are highlighted by large polished garnets are Lots 69 and 70, the former depicting sphinxes, and the latter with garnet cameo busts of Africans. The former is 2 ¼ inches wide with fine detailing of the sphinxes whose wings are uplifted. The latter is notable for the highly stylized gold sheet rendering of the hair adorned with filigree ringlets. Lot 69, shown above, which is considerably larger, has an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000. It sold for $21,150. Lot 70 has an estimate of only $4,000 to $6,000. It sold for $4,935.

Lot 56 is a pair of Greek Gold sphinx earrings, circa 4th Century B.C., that is more formal and less flamboyant than those in Lot 69. The 1 7/8-inch high earnings have detailed chased feathers on their wings and the sphinxes wear twisted wire necklace with a broad diadem in their striate hair and the sphinx figures are ornamented on the front with a three-tiered palmette of sheet with twised wire fringes. It has an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. It sold for $22,325.

Lot 57 is a Greek silver figure of a sphinx, circa early 5th Century, B.C., that is 1 inch high and has an estimate of $5,000 to $8,000, and is notable for the cross-hatched breast scales and traces of gilding on the wings. It sold for $5,640.

Lot 10 is a very highly stylized Greek gold figure of an Asian deity, circa 4th to 3rd Century, B.C., that is 3 3/8 inches high. The catalogue notes that the figure perhaps depicts Orpheus or Attis and is fabricated from hammered sheet. The figure wears a mantle over trousers and a conical cap and holds a phiale in his right hand and has his left arm raised, "perhaps originally holding a now-missing attribute," according to the catalogue. The figure, which suffers from some damage at the hip and the top of the cap, stands on an integral plinth and his garments are strongly ribbed in a fashion that would fascinate modern designers. It has a conservative estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 61 is a pair of Greek gold earrings, Hellenistic Period, circa 3rd Century B.C., that comes from the Ervika Foundation and Marc Rosenberg in Karlsruhe. The 1 1/2-inch long earrings each depict in exquisite detail an eagle, with dense granulation on the body, with outstretched wings and talons grasping a thunderbolt. The eagles are flanked and joined by wire to double tassels of plain beards interspersed with granulated double-disks and hang beneath large rosettes. The lot has a quite conservative estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. It sold for $41,125.

Lot 63 comes from the same period as Lot 61 and is a Greek gold Nike pendant that is 2 1/8 inches high. The catalogue notes that the pendant originally was suspended from an earring and depicts the goddess wearing a diaphanous chiton that has fallen off her right shoulder, exposing her breast. Her right arm is extending outwards holding the end of her mantle and she holds a palm branch in her left hand that arches over her head in front of her upraised wings. The impressive piece is missing the lower part of her right leg, but is quite astonishingly dyamic in its composition. It has an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. It sold for $23,500.

"Wearable antiquities were a tremendous success today in Christie's second annual sale devoted exclusively to ancient jewelry and seals," said G. Max Bernheimer, the head of Christie's antiquities department, adding that "particularly successful were items that exhibited intricate granulationand filigree - two techniques in which the ancients particularly excelled." Two-thirds of the 206 offered lots sold in the same for a total of $812,395.

For those who are more enthralled by the soft modeling of precious stones rather than the goldsmith’s artistry, Lot 42 will be hard to resist. It is an Egyptian amethyst amulet of Theoris, Late Period, Dynasty XXV-XXX, 712-343 B.C., depicting an upright hippopotamus with engraved details, 1 ¼ inches high. The cool, crystalline color of the piece is wonderful and the lot has a conservative estimate of $7,000 to $10,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 39, however, may be even more tempting for it contains 28 Egyptian amulets, many of very high quality, from the Middle Kingdom to Ptolemaic Period, 2040-30 B.C. The lot, which comes from the Crescent Gallery in Tokyo, has a very conservative estimate of $6,000 to $8,000. Most of the amulets are of turquoise faience, but the lot also includes a chalcedony falcon, a carnelian lion and a carnelian hippopotamus. It sold for only $5,875.

Lot 25 is another lot that some collectors might have wished had been divided as it consists of 5 Urartian silver pins, circa Late 8th to 7th Century B.C., most about three inches high. Most have tapering shanks and are surmounted by lions. The lot has an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000 and the pins are mounted beside one another on a wooden base to quite dramatic effect. It failed to sell.

Other highlights include Lot 82, a Greek gilt silver bust of Ares, Hellenistic Period, circa 3rd to 2nd Century B.C., that is seven-eighths of an inch high and has an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000. It failed to sell. The god of war is wearing a high crested Corinthian helmet and has tracing of gilding. Despite its small size, the god’s face is quite animated. Other good lots include Lot 153, a Roman silver votive axe head, circa 1st to 3rd Century A.D., that is 3 inches high and has an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000, and which failed to sell, Lot 154, a Roman silver figure, circa 2nd Century A.D., that is 4 1/8-inches high and has an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000, and which failed to sell, Lot 188, a Byzantine silver reliquary cross, circa 10th to 11th Century A.D., 2 7/8 inches high, which has an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000, and which sold for $19,975, and Lot 203, shown above, a neo-Assyrian red jasper Pazuzu pendant, circa 8th to 7th Century B.C., 2 inches long, which depicts the demon Pazuzu holding snakes in his outstretched hands with a dog to his left and a scorpion to his right and a conservative estimate of $6,000 to $8,000, and which sold for $4,700.

The auction abounds in many fine ancient rings and necklaces and also has some impressive large ancient cylinder seals.

The auction's less than spectacular results are surprising for it had lots of museum-quality works at estimates that were generally reasonable. The non-Egyptian antiquities market has been much slower than others in its escalation of market values, which is surprising given not only the beauty and rarity of many such works but also the likelihood that the market is becoming tighter in terms of regulation in various countries. As it is, it remains a land of bargains for the astute with a fair bit of money and world-class collections can still be assembled.