Auction Highlights
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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.
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Early Cypriot Red Burnished-Ware Vase
Bronze Age, circa 2300-1650 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,430
Bulbous bodied with a cylindrical neck and everted rim, decorated with incised geometric motifs: chequered squares, vertical chevrons, hatched and striped lozenges, combed circumferential bands; accompanied by an acrylic display base. 375 grams, 20 cm high
Acquired in the 1990s. From the deceased estate of a North Yorkshire private collector, UK. Ex Den of Antiquity, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Red burnished-ware pottery became the dominant pottery ware lasting into the Middle Bronze Age on the island of Cyprus. Vessels were handmade and covered with a slip, which was burnished and often decorated with patterns incised with a sharp cutting edge before being fired. Potters were able to produce vessels that were either mottled or painted in two colours, often red outside and black inside and on the exterior of the rim. -
Early Cypriot Terracotta Bottle
Bronze Age, circa 2300-1650 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,040
Black burnished with rounded underside, incised pattern of roundels and linear bands to shoulder and neck, flared rim. 142 grams, 11.5 cm high
From the collection of Mr Leinonen, by descent to his son, Stan Leinonen. -
Early Cypriot Terracotta Bowl
Bronze Age, circa 2300-1650 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,170
Hemispherical in form, black burnished finish with small loop below the rim, incised geometric bands with hatching. 163 grams, 11 cm wide
Ex private Bonn collection, acquired c.1960-1970. -
Italo-Geometric Painted Terracotta Amphora
Circa 7th-6th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,040
Decorated in red with geometric motifs including encircling bands, a horizontal wavy band with motifs at the shoulder, with two rows of vertical wavy linear panels below. 1.2 kg, 27 cm high
From a New Mexico private collection, acquired before 1991. with Bonhams, 3 July 2019, lot 53, (£1,500-£2,500). Accompanied by a copy of a previous collector's catalogue pages with inventory number 20.13. -
Etruscan Bucchero Chalice with Decoration
Circa 7th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £572
The carinated bowl displaying a decorative frieze of pricked semi-circles or fans over a cluster of incised bands, the bowl emerging from a stepped ribbed base, tapering stem and splayed foot; likely Rasmussen Type 2c, repaired. 460 grams, 16 cm wide
Acquired in the 1960s. Ex J. Bowman collection, Massachusetts, USA. with Aphrodite Gallery, New York, 24 September 2018, lot 17. Accompanied by detailed collector's catalogue pages including description and photograph. -
Etruscan Painted Terracotta Architectural Cornice
5th-4th century B.C.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. 5.1 kg, 34.5 cm wide
Private collection, Switzerland, 1960s. From the Sir Claude Hankes-Drielsma collection, prior to 2006. with Christie's, London, The Stanford Place Collection of Antiquities, 26 April 2006, lot 36. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate number S00209802, dated 14 June 2021. Accompanied by a detailed collector's catalogue pages including description and photograph. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.203716. -
Greek Terracotta Amphora with Palmettes and Standing Figure
Apulian, 4th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £572
Piriform-bodied with two handles flanking a stepped neck and mouth, stemmed foot with chamfered edge; polychrome painted shell ornament together with a figural panel; possibly a marriage. 1.6 kg, 37.5 cm high
Ex collection of a Suffolk, UK, gentleman, 1990s. -
Scythian Bronze Mirror with Panther Handle
5th-4th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
Comprising a discoid body with raised rim, ribbed handle and openwork stylised panther to the terminal; mounted on a custom-made display stand; some restoration. 1.8 kg total, 45 cm high including stand
Acquired 1971-1972. From the collection of the vendor's father. Property of a London, UK, collector. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.202711.
The 'Olbian type' mirror takes its name from the Greek colony of Olbia, a port on the Black Sea, which enjoyed close commercial links with the neighbouring Scythian territories. Olbian mirrors form an important element in this trade network, although whether the craftsmen who made them were Scythians or Greeks working in Scythian style for the Black Sea market is still undecided. The animal ornament of the mirrors reproduces the zoomorphic art used elsewhere by the Scythian elite. -
Eastern Greek Ribbed Silver Vase
Circa 3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,560
Of piriform shape with a small foot, multi-petalled rosette within the shallow kick-up to base, vertically fluted body, ovolo ornament to the shoulder and flared mouth with rolled rim; six strain holes to the shoulder; held within a custom-made felt-lined display box. 132 grams, 13.5 cm high ( 765 grams total, 22 x 17 cm including box)
with the Mahboubian Gallery, London, UK; acquired before 1972. with Bonhams, London, 26 October 2007, lot 213. Acquired on the London art market.
The straining holes are an indication that the vessel possibly once had a spout. -
Early Parthian Bronze Vase
Circa 3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £442
Featuring a squat piriform body, flared cylindrical neck and short waisted stem with everted foot. 227 grams, 21 cm high
UK collection, early 1990s and before. Acquired on the UK art market since the early 2000s. From a private collection, Lancashire, UK. -
Greek Rock Crystal Situla
4th-3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,690
Of tapering cylindrical form with vertical triangular-section fluting, flared rim with bevelled mouth, splayed foot and rectangular lug handled pierced for suspension; bung and chain attachment; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 34 grams total, 10.3 cm high including stand
Acquired in the 1980s. Private gentleman's collection, J.L., Surrey, UK. -
Phoenician Comic Glass Face
5th-4th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,820
Formed using opaque blue and yellow glass, with applied beard, hair, eyes and other features; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 7.9 grams, 35 mm high (13.6 grams total, 51 mm high including stand)
Ex Gallery Rhea, 3 July 2003.