Auction Highlights
-
Etruscan Painted Terracotta Architectural Cornice
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,900
A fragment of amorphous form, decorated in relief with scrolling tendrils and anthemion, painted egg-and-dart ornament above, surmounted by moulded bands and a frieze of meander and chequerboard panels; remains of red and black painted pigment. -
Roman Bronze Eros Cradling Goose Applique
Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,950
Formed as the bust of Eros looking upwards, stub wings to his shoulders, holding a goose to his chest; conical socket above each wing; eyes with silver inserts; old collector's label '1994 51.75' to the reverse; mounted on a custom-made stand; likely a socket base. -
Roman Silver-Gilt Military Buckle for an Elite Imperial Officer
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,800
Comprising a rectangular plate, richly decorated with embossed laurel leaves in a grid, framed with raised bosses, the buckle loop comprising opposing dragons with open mouths, holding a spherical tongue-rest, another pair of smaller dragon heads to base, the tongue with a smaller pair of punch-decorated dragon heads. -
South Arabian Bronze Bowl with Mythical Animals
Sold for (Inc. bp): £5,850
Hemispherical in form, repoussé interior displaying graduated concentric registers of stylised and mythical animals within tessellating cartouches; a low relief mesomphalos decorated with rosette at centre; geometric ornament around the rim. -
Assyrian Bronze Relief Fragment
Sold for (Inc. bp): £16,900
Displaying a corrugated rim above and below; two advancing soldiers, each striding forwards over the headless body of a dead enemy, carrying a severed head in each hand; the soldiers shown bearded and each wearing a pointed and segmented helmet with a recess to accommodate the ears, a cuirass and thigh-length tunic, with a bow over one shoulder and a sword slung from a waist belt; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Bronze Age Gold Bracelet with Torc-Shaped Terminals
Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,440
Of penannular form with expanded sections at the centre and to both shoulders. -
'The Oving' Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Great Square-Headed Brooch
Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,160
Comprising a rectangular headplate with two panels of chip-carved Style I ornament, flanking a beast-head with triangular muzzle and two pellet eyes, raised three-sided frame and outer band of pellets above beast-heads with lentoid eyes; the shallow bow with raised median rib, flanges to the edges and punched pellet detailing; footplate with beast-head between curved pellet lines, pierced horse-head lappets, lozengiform central panel with knot of Style I limbs; two lateral discs, one pierced to accept a stud and the other with a domed stud in place; the finial a disc with human mask inverted; pin-lug and part of catch to the reverse. -
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Great Square-Headed Brooch
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,900
Displaying chased panels populated with Style I zoomorphs and geometric forms, borders of annulets, raised masks to the upper corners of the headplate; applied discoid boss to bow decorated with a rosette, addorsed beast heads below; extensive remains of gilding; pin lug and catchplate to reverse and remains of ancient repair, lower part absent. -
'The Tenby' Hiberno-Norse Viking Penannular Brooch
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,640
Comprising a round-section crescent with flared ends terminating in two curved spatulate flat panels, each with a ropework border surrounding a two-band knotwork motif; cleaned and conserved. -
Medieval Oil Painting of Sorrowful Virgin
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,100
The weeping Virgin with her head bowed to the left and hands raised to her chest on a dotted gilt background, an expression of pain on her delicately formed face; wearing a white veil and a black long-sleeved robe, the veil arranged as a headdress and covering her hair; on wood and mounted in a later carved wooden architectural frame. -
Medieval Stained Glass Panel With Saint Martin on Horseback
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,080
Shown beneath an arcade, offering his cloak on the end of his sword to the beggar at his feet; polychrome detailing; repaired with lead cames and held in a wooden frame. -
Medieval Stained Glass Panel with The Virgin and Child
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,860
Composed from irregular painted panels bearing mainly foliage designs and figural elements; Mary crowned and enthroned with infant Jesus on her knee, in a lobed vesica-shaped panel held with lead cames; mounted in a wooden frame with modern replacements. -
Medieval Stone Column Capital with Lion and Human Face
Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,950
Carved in the half-round with a frieze composed of interlaced foliage with two rows of acanthus leaves and foliage scrolls, framing a lion's head on one side and a human head on the other, remains of lion's mane to the third; drilled holes to the raised surfaces and sockets for the insertion of decorative stones. -
'The Kirkleavington' Medieval Bronze Inscribed Purse Frame
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,640
The bar with central D-shaped block pierced vertically by a stud surmounted by the suspension loop, with four pierced flanges to the underside; the frame in two sections, the larger a U-shaped rod with pivot for the bar, the smaller pivoting within the inner face, both pierced on the inner face; the block inscribed to one face with capital S and to the other with intersecting Vs; the bar inscribed to one face in capitals 'A DOMINI TECVM' and to the other in coarsely incised capitals 'AVEMARIA G[R]ACIAPLE[NA]'; the smaller rod inscribed in capitals 'CREATOREN CELI ET TERRE ET IN [IES]VN'; the larger inscribed with a band of scrolled decoration and the text in Lombardic capitals 'SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA'; the accompanying letter discusses the texts (1) Ave Maria G[r]acia ple[n]a Dominus Tecum 'Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord [is] with thee'; (2) Soli Deo Honor et Gloria 'Honour and glory to God alone'; (3) Creatorem celi et terrae et inferum 'creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus'. The intersecting Vs may form a monogram for A[ve] M[aria]; the 1847 letter describes the findspot as 'found at Kirkleavington near Yarm in the sill of a brook' in the North Riding of Yorkshire. -
'The Roxwell' Medieval Gold Signet Ring of 'King's Serjeant William Skrene'
Sold for (Inc. bp): £23,400
Gold hoop and discoid bezel with incuse ropework border; incuse image of a bird of prey perching with wings spread and head turned; blackletter incuse and reversed inscription in an arc above the bird's head and pinions '·al : for : ye : best ·' (all for the best); repair to hoop. -
Medieval Silver 'Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland' Royal Hawking Vervel
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,750
Or a leg ring inscribed '+Earle of Rutland' in derivative black letter script, for a female merlin or sparrow hawk (due to the youth of Edmund Plantagenet who died aged 17); the ring with a convex interior face. -
Post Medieval Gold Memento Mori Ring with Inscribed Posy 'In God Alone Wee Two Are One'
Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,680
Displaying large flower heads, foliage and a skull to the outer face, enhanced with black enamelling; interior inscribed in a cursive script 'In god alone wee two are one', together with possible maker's stamps 'D' and 'F' in two rectangular cartouches. -
Heavy Post Medieval Gold 'Love Is The Bond Of Pease' Posy Ring
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,860
Composed of a gently carinated hoop, the interior inscribed in cursive script 'Love is the bond of pease'. -
Post Medieval Gold 'Live Life to the Full' Decorated Posy Ring
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,380
Composed of a decoratively notched hoop divided into chased rhomboidal panels displaying foliate tendrils and horizontal hatching alternately; the interior inscribed in Roman capitals with the Latin phrase: 'x x x x VIVE x VT x VIVAS'. -
English Milled Coins - George VI - 1937 - Cased RM Proof Coronation Gold Set [4]
Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,700
Set comprising gold five pounds, two pounds, sovereign and half sovereign. Obvs: profile bust with GEORGIVS VI D G BR OMN REX F D IND IMP legends. Revs: St George and dragon; date in exergue; with original Royal Mint hinged red leatherette case of issue.
-
Chinese Warring States Blackware Jar
Warring States, 475-221 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
The carinated body with decorative impressed fluting to the lower half. 1 kg, 17 cm high
Ex Cotswold, UK, collection, 1970-1990. -
Sino-Tibetan Gilt Bronze Seated Buddha
20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £455
Sitting cross-legged on a lotus-flower dais wearing a mantle uttariya with scrolled ornament, his right hand holding the stem of an utpala flower. 1.08 grams, 20 cm high
Fine condition.
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. -
Chinese Song Whiteware Bowl
Song Dynasty, 969-1279 A.D. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £46
Of shallow conical form with a decorative glaze and ring foot. 121 grams, 11.7 cm wide
From a late Japanese specialist collector, 1970-2000s. -
Large Indus Valley Ceramic Storage Vessel
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
With a carinated lower body, everted rim and foot, painted frieze of geometric decoration to the upper body; cracked and repaired. 2.9 kg, 26 cm wide
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection. -
Indian Framed Watercolour Manuscript
17th-18th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
Framed and glazed with polychrome embellishment; from a Diwan by Hafez, comprising two vertical columns of handwritten script, panels of floral ornament and concentric borders; explanatory label to reverse. 293 grams, 22.3 x 17.4 cm
Acquired by the vendor's father on the UK art market, before 1990.
Hafez was the most famous of the Islamic Sufi poets. This manuscript was evidently owned by a distinguished and affluent individual. -
Indus Valley Terracotta Cup
2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Squat in profile with rounded underside, carinated shoulder, flared rim, black painted rim and radiating strokes. 585 grams, 13 cm wide
Ex David Gold collection, UK, 1990s. -
Miniature Gilt Painting of a Mughal Noble on Horseback
Circa 1860-1870 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
The figure advancing left on a dappled stallion, framed by a broad midnight blue and floral border. 47 grams, 38.5 x 26.5 cm
UK art market since circa 1970. Property of a private Scottish collector. -
Shahnama Miniature Painting
19th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £286
Framed and glazed watercolour depicting a prince seated against a cushion, a female attendant and musician before him; within blue and yellow borders. 1 kg, 43.5 cm
Property of a London gallery. -
Indian Framed Floral Watercolour Painting
19th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Framed and glazed, depicting a flowering bush within border, on paper; of superb quality. 389 grams, 27.5 x 18.5 cm
Acquired by the vendor's father on the UK art market, before 1990. -
Gandharan Stucco Figure
2nd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Head and upper body of a Bodhisattva with hands pressed together at the chest, prominent hoop earrings and necklace with disc pendant, segmented band to the brow; uttariya mantle to the left shoulder and upper arm; mounted on a custom-made stand. 522 grams total,17.5 cm high including stand
with a London, UK gallery 1971-early 2000s. -
Indus Valley Ceramic Vessels
2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £208
Mainly comprising bowls, jars and vases, including examples painted with geometric motifs. 1.8 kg total, 10-14 cm
Ex London, UK, collection, 1990-2000s. -
Indian Bronze Five-Tiered Oil Lamp
19th-20th century A.D. or earlierSold for (Inc. bp): £234
Composed of a tubular stem with four ribbed collars at regular intervals, three modelled as stylised birds with S-shaped neck and head, small wings and a trapezoidal tail, the bottom with an elephant head, a shallow bowl at the top of the column with elongated spout, festooned with figures of birds and peacocks; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 831 grams, 28.5 cm (938 grams, 29 cm including stand)
Fine condition.
From a Sussex (deceased) estate. Acquired at Bellman’s Auctions. Property of a London gentleman.