Home > Auctions > 21 - 25 February 2023
Ancient Art, Antiquities, Natural History & Coins
Auction Highlights:
Acquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
See Sommer, M., Die Gürtel und Gürtelbeschläge des 4. und 5. Jahrhunderts im römischen Reich, Bonner Hefte zur Vorgeschichte, 22, Bonn, 1980 (1984), pl.54, 11.
The belt fitting finds parallels with parts of belt from Asia Minor, today at the British Museum, inv. EC 252-254. These kind of plates, decorative and engraved with classical scenes, can be dated possibly to the age of Theodosius I. The quality of decoration can support the thesis of their belonging to officers of the Comitatus (the Imperial mobile army).
Ex European collection.
Acquired in the mid 1990s.
Property of a Harrow, UK, gentleman.
Cf. Hattatt, R., A Visual Catalogue of Richard Hattatt's Ancient Brooches, Oxbow Books, 2000, fig.573, for type; cf. The British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme Database, record ids. SOM-1FBF61 and LVPL-4824A4, for very similar examples.
Acquired early 2000s.
Property of a Birmingham, UK, collector.
Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.
Acquired early 1990s.
Ex private American collection; thence by descent.
Private Swiss collection since 1998.
Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, accession number 74.51.2490, for a similar example classified as Roman, Cypriot, 1st century A.D.
The figure is wearing a Greek peplos tied at the waist in such a way as to accentuate the breasts.
French collection, 1960s-early 2000s.
From an important Paris gallery, France.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11629-199364.
Possibly an architectural element or herm: herma (Ancient Greek: ἑρμῆς, usually called a 'herm' in English), is a sculptured stone block with a head and often a chest above an undecorated lower section on which male genitals may additionally be carved. From the Neolithic period onwards, in parts of Europe, divinities were worshipped in the form of either a heap of stones (cairn) or a wooden column. Piles of stones were created beside roads and at the borders of fields as they were cleared of pebbles, and religious respect was shown through the custom of each passer-by throwing a stone on the heap or offering a libation. In due course, the addition of a carved head (and phallus) to the column encouraged the belief that these monuments were especially favoured by divinities.
Ex Mr U.C. collection, Belgium, formed in the 1950s.
English private collection.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11630-199755.
Cf. The British Museum, museum number 1805,0703.8, for the similarly-modelled Townley greyhounds.
Ex Ingrid McAlpine, 1939-2018, London and Epsom, UK.
Acquired 1980s-early 1990s.
Ex private German collection.
English private collection.
Ex private collection, Monaco, 1960s-1970s.
Acquired from the Monaco Fine Arts on 4th November 1992.
Private collection of Mr & Mrs Daniel, Monaco.
Acquired by the present owner from David Aaron Gallery in 2019.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by searcher certificate number no.11569-197722.
Cf. Felletti Maj, B.M., Museo Nazionale Romano, I Ritratti, Roma, 1953; Bianchi Bandinelli, R., L'arte Romana nel centro del potere, dalle origini alla fine del II secolo d.C., Roma, 1969; Bieber, M., Ancient Copies. Contributions to the History of Greek and Roman Art, New York, 1977, p.88, pls.60-61; Fittschen K., Zanker P., Le sculture del Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna, La collezione Marsili, Comune di Bologna, Bologna, 1986; Boardman, J., Griechische Plastik. Die spätklassische Zeit, Mainz, 1998, pp.100ff.; Fuchs, W., Die Skulptur der Griechen, München, 1993, pp.221ff.; Agnoli, N., Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Palestrina, Le sculture, Roma, 2002; Vout, C., ‘Hadrian, Hellenism, and the Social History of Art’, in Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics, Third Series, Vol.18, No.1, Spring-Summer 2010, pp.55-78.
The youthful head seems to be based on the Greek Attic Artemis Colonna type of the 4th century B.C. The composition of the head is powerful with a serene countenance, its physiognomy replete with the idealised quality characteristic of Greek classical sculpture. This classic influence is best seen in the perfect almond- shaped eyes with their sharply carved lids as well as the smooth contour of the face. The rich handling of the coiffure and the smooth quality of the face can suggest a date sometime during the Hadrianic (117 to 138 A.D.) or early Antonine periods.
From a 19th century German collection.
Acquired in the 1990s.
Ex London, UK, collection.
See Bussière, J., Lindros Wohl, B., Ancient Lamps in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 2017, p.112, no.157 and 160, for the type.
This lamp belongs to the classification of Loeschcke type III (Bailey type D). The type is characterised by a handle ornament that is either figurative or in the shape of a crescent, with decorated triangle, or two-lobed bud; and a usually round-tipped volute-nozzle, exceptionally with angular tip. Lamps may have one or two, or sometimes more nozzles. This type is typical of the Late Neronian-Flavian period.
Acquire in the 1990s.
Ex Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.
Cf. Beutler, F. et al., Der Adler Roms. Carnuntum und der Armee der Cäsaren, Bad-Deutsch Altenberg, 2017, items 1003-1010, especially 1005, for type.
The face of this bound barbarian, who is forced into a squatting position by the way he is bound, is framed by rich locks betraying his Moorish origin. Numerous statuettes of bound barbarians have been found at the Empire’s outer boundaries. Many have vertical and horizontal bores, which have led to the interpretation that they were ornaments for horse bridles or snaffle fittings.
French collection, 1960s-early 2000s.
From an important Paris gallery, France.
Cf. similar style of portraits in Bianchi Bandinelli, R., Roma, la fine dell'arte antica, Milano, 1970, figs. 340-346; Auinger, J., Aurenhammer, M., 'Antik Donemin Sonunda Ephesos Heykeltrasligi (Ephesos Sculpture at the end of the Antiquity)' in Daim, F., Ladstatter, S., Bizans Döneminde Ephesos (Ephesus in the Byzantine Period), Istanbul, 2011, pp.163-195, figs.22, 23, 24.
A series of portrait heads, busts and marble statues from the 5th-6th century A.D. Ephesus, show great affinity with this sculpture. This typology of portraits shows how the late Roman art progressed in the search for a characterisation. The hair is deeply worked with a drill creating a chiaroscuro and immobile mass, the face is treated with large expressive folds, making this head a magnificent expression of late Imperial Roman art.
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