BOULDER, COLO.- Objects spanning centuries and continents—from a commanding Māori ancestral carving and a Khmer sandstone head of Shiva to a fragmentary Coptic letter and Mexican modernist silver—will come to auction on August 13 as Artemis Fine Arts presents its Summer Marketplace | Ancient & Ethnographic sale.

The online auction, beginning at 8 a.m. GMT-6, brings together Pre-Columbian, Native American and tribal material alongside antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Near East, as well as Asian art, fossils and works of fine and visual art.

Curated by Bob Dodge, the sale reflects the eclectic approach that has long characterized Artemis Fine Arts, with objects ranging from archaeological material to works made well into the 20th century. The auction house states that all ancient items in the sale were legally acquired and are legal to sell.


Maori Carved Wood Koruru Gable Mask - Ancestral Guardian + Paua Shell Eyes.

Among the most visually arresting works is a large Māori carved wood koruru gable mask, estimated at $2,250 to $3,500, with bidding beginning at $1,200.

Made in New Zealand around the middle to late 20th century, the 25-inch-high carving presents a formidable ancestral face carved in deep relief. Spiraling forms sweep across the cheeks, while notched ridges accented with white pigment give the surface an almost rhythmic intensity. Circular eyes inlaid with iridescent paua shell bring an especially vivid presence to the figure.

In Māori architecture, the koruru traditionally occupies the apex of the gable of a wharenui, or meeting house. The building itself can be understood symbolically as the body of an ancestor—the ridgepole forming the spine, the rafters the ribs and the bargeboards the extended arms. Positioned above them all, the koruru becomes the ancestor's face, watching over the marae below.

The carving also includes the protruding tongue, or whetero, a gesture associated with challenge and defiance and familiar from haka traditions. Traces of dark pigment remain around the facial moko designs, while old bolts on the reverse testify to the work's earlier installation.

Its provenance includes a private Texas collection, Clars Auctions in California and the collection of Richard I. M. Kelton in Marina del Rey.


3 Sucesores de Spratling Silver Shakers & 5 Dishes. Estimate: $2,800 - $4,200.

A very different expression of craftsmanship appears in a group of Sucesores de William Spratling silver and rosewood tableware, estimated at $2,800 to $4,200.

Produced in Taxco between approximately 1967 and 1979, the group includes three rosewood and sterling silver shakers together with several shallow silver dishes. Their appeal lies in the contrast between dark, faceted wood and polished sterling—a combination closely associated with the modernist design vocabulary developed by William Spratling.

Spratling, who died in 1967, played a major role in the revival of Taxco's silver industry and helped transform the Mexican city into an internationally recognized center for modern silver design. These pieces were made after his death by Sucesores de William Spratling, the workshop that continued producing his designs.

Each bears a "William Spratling / Taxco, Mexico" mark surrounding the WS initials, along with "925" indicating sterling silver. The absence of a later T-24 mark helps place their manufacture before 1979.

The works come from the private Moore collection in Denver and were acquired before 1990.


Coptic Papyrus Letter Fragment Sahidic Script, Mena & Phoibammon. Estimate: $2,100 - $3,000

One of the smallest objects in the auction may also be among its most intimate. A Coptic papyrus letter fragment written in Sahidic script, dating from approximately 500 to 899 CE, carries an estimate of $2,100 to $3,000 and a starting bid of $800.

Measuring just 4.6 inches long, the fragment preserves four clearly visible lines of text and traces of another. Rather than an official decree or monumental religious inscription, the surviving words appear to belong to personal correspondence.

The text refers to a date early in the Egyptian month of Paremhotep and includes the names Mena and Phoibammon, as well as language invoking God on another person's behalf. The combination offers a rare glimpse of ordinary communication in Egypt's Christian communities during the Byzantine or early Islamic periods.

Mounted in a small frame, the papyrus came to its current Florida collection through Baidun Gallery in Jerusalem in 2015 and was previously in the collection of Bruno Wertz in Germany, who acquired it during the 1960s.


19th C. Japanese Silk Tapestries Bodhidharma & Sennin. Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000

Asian art is represented by a pair of large 19th-century Japanese embroidered silk panels from the Meiji era, estimated at $2,000 to $3,000.

Richly worked with brocade, embroidery and metallic-wrapped threads, the textiles depict Buddhist and legendary figures. One shows a haloed sennin, or immortal, seated near an incense burner while a three-clawed dragon twists through rising smoke. The larger panel appears to depict a courtly figure reading a scroll before a hooded man identified as Bodhidharma, the foundational figure associated with Zen Buddhism, while two white lion-dogs sit below.

Although the textiles show considerable age and wear and are described as fragile, their scale remains impressive: the larger measures approximately 64 by 46 inches.


Lot of Pre & Post Conquest Shell Pendants - Costa Rica. Estimate: $1,800 - $2,700.

The auction also reaches into the ancient cultures of the Americas. A group of Pre- and post-Conquest shell and bone pendants from Costa Rica, estimated at $1,800 to $2,700, brings together objects dating from approximately 1200 through the 20th century.

The group includes 13 Pre-Columbian pendants, among them an axe-god form and a series of abstract bird-like ornaments, together with later carvings representing standing people and human faces. The collection comes from a private collection in Dallas.

Another major highlight is a Khmer red sandstone head of Shiva, dating to Cambodia's Angkor period in the 12th or 13th century.

Estimated at $3,600 to $5,400, with a $1,400 starting bid, the sculpture retains several attributes that identify the Hindu deity. A third eye appears at the center of the forehead, while a crescent moon decorates the tall cylindrical crown. Elongated earlobes and an elaborately patterned diadem further connect the image with the divine and royal visual language of Khmer art.

Only the head survives from what would originally have been a larger temple figure. At five inches high—or eight inches on its custom stand—it is relatively small, yet the delicately modeled features and monumental crown give it a presence well beyond its physical dimensions.

Its provenance is listed as a private collection in Rogers, Arkansas, and previously the Bosio collection in Miami, where it was held between 1960 and 2000.

Artemis Fine Arts' Summer Marketplace | Ancient & Ethnographic auction begins August 13, 2026, at 8 a.m. GMT-6 in Boulder, Colorado.