Clarence Day’s antiquities will go under the hammer in New York on December 7, courtesy of Sotheby’s Auction House.
Clarence Day acquired his first antiquities in the 1970s and in the course of 30 years built one of the finest private collections in the US, in the tradition of Norbert Schimmel, Leon Pomerance and Christos Bastis. It is not as large a collection as these, but exhibits the same high level of quality and connoisseurship. Mr Day lived his whole life that way, from his appreciation for the art of many periods and cultures, to the serene understated beauty of his home and garden in Memphis, to fine wines, and, above all, to his compassion for people.
Clarence Day, who passed away last year at the age of 82, was known as a generous man and a dedicated philanthropist. Over the years, Mr Day and The Day Foundation made significant contributions to Rhodes College, the Mayo Clinic Foundation, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Early Childhood Institute at Mississippi State University, and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, among many others.
One cause to which he was particularly devoted was the Memphis-based youth villages, especially its programme to help children aging out of foster care to take their place in society. Its chief executive officer, Patrick Lawler, said: “He wanted to help children that others wouldn’t help, the ones who were most troubled and in need of support... he was very serious about leaving his footprint on the earth.”
Eventually, Mr Day persuaded the governor of Tennessee to provide state support for youth villages, turning the cause into one of the most comprehensive programmes in the nation.
The highlight of Clarence Day’s antiquities collection is the Roman Imperial marble bust of the youth Antinous, once part of the famous Collection de Clercq and the only known example from the classical world inscribed with his name.
Other important objects include a splendid and evocative Roman green porphyry sphinx of a queen, executed in the Egyptian manner, formerly in the possession of the legendary dealer and collector Hagop Kevorkian; a beautiful and unusually large Cycladic marble figure of a goddess, acquired from the distinguished dealer Mathias Komor; a Greek bronze figure of a warrior, small in scale but monumental in proportion, once in the Christos Bastis Collection; and a Roman Imperial marble portrait head of a man of great power and character, formerly in the Stroganoff Collection.
There are also lesser objects of great charm, such as the Iberian bronze equestrian group and the bronze reclining figure of Pan, which help give this exceptional collection a personality of its own. The proceeds of this auction will benefit The Day Foundation. (Source: Sotheby’s)