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The Kriophoros, no. 140, from the Greek world stands at this exceptional moment of transition from aristocracy to democracy, from  archaic art to classical art, from stylization to naturalism, in the period called Early Classical or the Severe Style. The ram and his bearer are realized with considerable naturalness, but above all the bend of the animal's neck with its slight bulging on the underside expresses with infinite tenderness the apprehension of the ram because of his unnatural and somewhat uncomfortable position. Has the artist portrayed the animal's premonition of the fate that may await him? 

The rhyton in the form of a deer's head, no. 154, was surely executed by a Greek influenced by the "Animal Style" of the Scythians and possibly produced for a Scythian prince. One almost sees and feels the life that permeates the animal's muzzle with such sensitivity. The same approach is also to be found in the Achaemenid-style rhyton with a buck protome, no. 206, surely Greek workmanship and of an earlier date but from a similar or maybe even the same workshop, produced this time for a Scythian nobleman, a wealthy Greek of the coast of Anatolia or a Persian satrap of the same region. The poise of the head with its one remaining antler conveys a humanistic understanding of an animal's sensitivity that I find deeply moving and particularly beautiful; it is, if I may use the expression, a dream object.

Pure Achaemenid objects such as the amphora with ibex handles, no. 205, and the rearing ibex, no. 207, whatever their artistic merits, lack the humanism of previously mentioned works of art. The same is true of the admirable onager heads, no. 209, with their quivering liveliness. Particularly attractive is the so-called "Animal Style", so spirited and imaginative, as for example the galloping Mongolian animals, no. 214.

In the early Byzantine period permeated with Greek spirit, whose birth is contemporary with the end of the Roman Empire, a new dimension is added. In the head of Gratian (?), no. 246, executed like a cameo, we see the portrait of a young prince, twelve to fourteen years of age, imperious, very spoilt and possibly somewhat cruel. In no. 251 which we think of as the head of the Virgin, we see a juxtaposition between the virginal purity of her lower face with a young girl's chin and mouth, and the pathos of her sad eyes, full of melancholy and suffering, with the longitudinal creases between the eyebrows. And the portrait of a high official, no. 248, exudes a compassionate understanding and spirituality.

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  No. 140
 

  No. 154
 

  No. 206
 

  No. 205
 

  No. 207