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LONDON, July 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Following their successful June auction, Apollo Art Auctions is proud to present a remarkable selection of ancient art. The upcoming sale, featuring pieces with outstanding provenance, will go live on the 26th and 27th of July at 1 PM BST, both at their London showroom and online via LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, The Saleroom, and Apollo’s own auction platform.
A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on this link.
Highlighting the sale on the 26th of July is a remarkable turquoise mosaic jaguar mask with circular dark eyes and prominent fangs. This one-of-a-kind piece, Aztec/Mixtec in origin, has never appeared at auction. The mask represents a jaguar, an animal believed to be spiritually equal to humans. The Aztecs were deeply spiritual, with strong religious beliefs and ritual practices. The god Tezcatlipoca, one of the creator deities and a god of war and conflict, was often associated with the jaguar. His jaguar form symbolized the night sky, with the animal’s spots representing the stars.
Turquoise, the stone used throughout the mask, was highly prized in Aztec culture, representing power, life, and spirituality. In an interview form the 16th century with an Aztec recorded by Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún, teoxihuitl (turquoise) was described as “the property, the lot, of the god.”
Lot 50 – RARE AZTEC / MIXTEC TURQUOISE MOSAIC MASK OF A JAGUAR
Date: Ca. AD 1400-1521
Size: 125mm x 120mm
Weight: 535g
Starting Bid: £100,000
Another standout piece, Lot 462, is an Egyptian vessel in the shape of a grasshopper, once owned by the famous archaeologist Howard Carter, best known for discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun. Carter played a key role in the early development of Egyptology.
This grasshopper vessel is especially well known for being part of the same collection as the Guennol Lioness, which once held the record for the most expensive sculpture ever sold at Sotheby’s. It has an impressive exhibition history, having been on public display from 1948 to 2002. It was shown at the Brooklyn Museum in the exhibition The Guennol Collection: Cabinet of Wonders, and at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1969.
The piece has been published in several important academic works, including, The Brooklyn Museum Bulletin (Vol. X, No. 1, 1948, figs. 1-4, cover illustration), New Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt During the Eighteenth Dynasty: 1590-1315 BC by Cyril Aldred (1951, No. 97) and A History of Technology, edited by C. Singer, E.J. Holmyard, and A.R. Hall.
The vessel also has a strong and well-documented ownership history. Most recently, it was part of the Prince Collection (1990s-2014), and was acquired in 2007 from the Merrin Gallery, with the original purchase invoice included. Before that, it was held in the collections of Howard Carter, Joseph Brummer in New York, the Guennol Collection, and a private collection in the United States.
Lot 462 – EGYPTIAN IVORY AND WOOD COSMETIC VESSEL IN THE FORM OF A GRASSHOPPER
Date: Late 18th Dynasty, Ca. 1350-1340 BC
Size: 21.9mm x 88mm
Weight: 19.7g
Starting Bid: £100,000
Auction Information
‘Fine Ancient Art – The Prince Collection’ sale will take place on the 26th and 27th of July at 1 PM BST. It will be held live at Apollo Art Auctions’ Central London showroom (63-64 Margaret Street, W1W 8SW) and online via their auction platform.
All lots will be available for preview by appointment only at the London showroom from the 22nd to 25th of July 2025, between 10 AM and 5 PM. All items are professionally handled by Apollo’s white-glove team and prepared for secure in-house shipping.
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