Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Collector

Ernest Guilhou

1844–1911 · France

Collector of ancient jewellery and rings, part of whose collection was sold in Paris in 1905 and whose rings were catalogued by Seymour de Ricci in 1912 and sold at Sotheby's in 1937.

Biography

Ernest Guilhou formed a collection of ancient goldwork and rings that included Cypriot pieces. Babelon in 1902 places him at the château de Laclau in the Basses-Pyrénées, as owner of a "riche collection"9. A Christie's provenance note of 2025 gives his dates as 1844 to 1911 and places the collection in Paris10; these dates are not checked against a civil record.

A Paris sale of 1905 offered antiquities and medieval objects "provenant de la collection de M. Guilhou", among them Cypriot gold earrings with bull heads on emerald beads3. Le Musée of January 1906 places in his collection a cross set with sapphires and an emerald from the Kyrenia treasure4. In 1912 Seymour de Ricci catalogued the rings as formed by "the late E. Guilhou"1. Sotheby's sold the ring collection in London on 9 to 12 November 19372; one bibliography prints the initial of that catalogue's collector as G., the Christie's note as E.

Later owners of pieces from the collection include the Rosen collection in New York, which holds a bull-lion scarab7, and Leo Merz, who owned ring XI/335. A gold scarab that passed through the Tyszkiewicz collection entered the British Museum as 1985.2-15.18.

Life and work

  1. 1912
    Seymour de Ricci catalogued his collection of ancient rings, formed by 'the late E. Guilhou' (Paris, 1912).

    ParisSeymour de Ricci (1912). Catalogue of a Collection of Ancient Rings formed by the late E. Guilhou. Paris

  2. 9 November 1937 – 12 November 1937
    Sotheby's sold 'the Superb Collection of Rings, formed by the late Monsieur G. Guilhou of Paris' (the catalogue's initial as cited in a bibliography; a 2025 sale-house note cites the same catalogue as 'Late Monsieur E. Guilhou'); the sale was held 9-12 November 1937.

    LondonSotheby & Co. (1937). Catalogue of the Superb Collection of Rings, formed by the late Monsieur G. Guilhou of Paris, 9th-12th Nov. 1937. London

  3. 26 August 1938 – 3 September 1938
    Ring from the collection (Sotheby's 1937, lot 68) offered again at Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, lot 484.

    LucerneChristie's (2025). London Antiquities, July 2025: lot 68 [Greek gold, rock crystal and garnet box-bezel ring], provenance. leaf 119, lot 68 provenance

Connections

2 people

Colleagues & contacts

Mentioned in

5 mentions

Sources

  1. 1.Seymour de Ricci (1912). “Catalogue of a Collection of Ancient Rings formed by the late E. Guilhou”. Paris.
  2. 2.Sotheby & Co. (1937). “Catalogue of the Superb Collection of Rings, formed by the late Monsieur G. Guilhou of Paris, 9th-12th Nov. 1937”. London.
  3. 3. (1905). Catalogue des objets antiques et du Moyen-Age, orfèvrerie, céramique, bronzes, ivoires, etc. provenant de la collection de M. Guilhou. p. 20.
  4. 4. (1906). “Le Musée: revue d'art antique”. p. 480.
  5. 5.Britta Gerring (2000). Sphragides: Die gravierten Fingerringe des Hellenismus. p. 157, 195.
  6. 6. (1958). “Palestine Exploration Quarterly 90.2 (earring type article)”. p. 6.
  7. 7.John Boardman (2003). Classical Phoenician Scarabs. p. 119.
  8. 8.British Museum (1994). Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Selected Acquisitions 1980-1992. p. 246.
  9. 9.Ernest Babelon (1902). Histoire de la gravure sur gemmes en France depuis les origines jusqu'à l'époque contemporaine. p. 12 (note 2) of the Merovingian chapter.
  10. 10.Christie's (2025). London Antiquities, July 2025: lot 68 [Greek gold, rock crystal and garnet box-bezel ring], provenance. leaf 119.
  11. 11.Massimo Listri. Cabinet of Curiosities. p. 178.
  12. 12.Walters Art Gallery (1980). Jewelry, ancient to modern. p. 266.
  13. 13.The British Museum, Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Selected Acquisitions, 1980–1992 (1994).
  14. 14.Seymour de Ricci, 1912.

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