Symes and the Hermes-Thoth

Hermes-Thoth
Image: Schinousa Archive

I am grateful to my Cambridge colleague Dr Christos Tsirogiannis for pointing out that the head of Hermes-Thoth due to be auctioned at Sotheby's New York next week had once passed through the hands of Robin Symes (December 12, 2013, lot 39). The estimate is $2.5-3.5 million.

Sotheby's note the association with Symes and suggest that it had once been in the possession of Douglas H. Fisher in London during the 1950s and 1960s. The basis for this information is not indicated.

The head ("The Hermes of Hermoupolis") was on offer from Albrecht Neuhaus, Würzburg, in 1970 (see Burlington Magazine 112 [May 1970] p. lxxv [JSTOR]).

Robert Steven Bianchi notes the head in an unnamed collection in 2007 (Robert Steven Bianchi, “The Nahman Alexander,” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 43, 2007, 29 n. 6 [academia.edu]).

Colour images of the head feature in the Schinousa archive where they were identified by Tsirogiannis.