Catana
Tetradrachm by the Master of the Leaf circa 435-425, AR 17.09 g. Charioteer driving slow quadriga r., holding kentron and reins; above, Nike flying r., crowning horses. In exergue, bird flying r. Rev. KATANAION Laureate head of Apollo l.; in r. field, leaf with a berry. Rizzo pl. XII, 7 (these dies). SNG ANS 1255 (these dies). Jameson 540. Gulbenkian 184. Very rare and in unusual condition for this very difficult issue. A portrait of excellent style, the work of a talented master engraver struck on a very broad flan. A delightful old cabinet tone and about extremely fine Ex Leu sale 71, 1997, 51. This beautiful tetradrachm is the work of the “Maestro della foglia”, dubbed thus for his habit of “signing” his work with a special type of leaf, instead of the usual initials or name: on the left side of the reverse of this coin we find an laurel leaf next to the neatly designed head of Apollo, wearing a laurel crown in his hair, cf. Plin., Nat. hist. XII 3: “Some species of trees are particularly protected as each of them is dedicated to one divinity such as the Mediterranean oak to Jupiter, the laurel to Apollo, the olive to Minerva, the myrtle to Venus and the poplar to Hercules”. On other coins, the Maestros signature is represented by a apion leaf. Apart from guaranteeing the authenticity (sphragis) of the master engraver, the apion leaf motif (an apion crown was also first prize for winners of the games of Nemea in Argolis), is coherent with the image of Apollo as discoverer of the healing effects of plants, a quality which the god shared with Esculapius, according to the great Pythagoras, as Pliny the Elder informs us (Naturalis Historia XXV, 13).