Details
618 in. (15.5 cm.) diam.
Provenance
Belgium private collection.
Kunstwerke Der Antike, Auktion 2, Jean-David Cahn AG, Basel, 26 June 2000, lot 230.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, acquired from the above (Art of the Ancient World, vol. XII, 2001 no. 45).
Antiquities, Christie's, London, 29 April 2010, lot 60.
Literature
J. Boardman, "Greek Art," in M. Merrony, ed., Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Mougins, 2011, p. 72, fig. 59.
Exhibited
Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins, 2011-2023 (Inv. no. MMoCA564).
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Lot Essay

Herakles was the greatest of the Greek heroes who, through his brute strength, cleverness and determination, and with the assistance of his patron Athena, was able to complete his Twelve Labors and later join the Olympians as an immortal. Here the hero is depicted wearing the Nemean Lion skin with the jaw pulled up over his head, the fangs framing his face and the paws tied under his chin. This is a reference to the fruits of his First Labor, when he killed the beast that had been ravaging the town of Nemea. The lion was impervious to conventional weapons, so Herakles strangled it, and then flayed it using its own claws. Forever after, Herakles wore its pelt for its protective properties. A palmette is depicted in the field on the left with the hero's fist on the right. The disc is surmounted by a ketos forming a loop for a twisted attachment ring.

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