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.
-
Western Asiatic Bronze Ibex Spout Protome
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
Featuring a u-section spout with ibex neck and head modelled in the round; rivets to oval face; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 140 grams, 84 wide (169 grams total, 10.4 cm wide including stand)
Ex private UK collection formed in the 1980s. Ex London, UK, gallery. -
Neo-Assyrian Black Jasper Cylinder Seal with Cultic Banquet Scene
Early 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £390
Engraved with a cultic banquet scene, composed of two figures standing facing, a jar on a table between them, standards to their left and right, crescent moon and star in the field above; accompanied by a museum-quality impression. 9.12 grams, 32 mm
Fine condition.
Acquired 1980-2000s. Important collection of a London gentleman. -
Western Asiatic Mixed Stone and Glass Bead Necklace
1st millennium B.C. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £78
Composed of restrung squarish lapis beads, small carnelian rounds and oblates and some glass and other bead types. 60 grams, 66 cm long
Ex private UK collection formed in the 1980s. Property of an East Sussex, UK, teacher. -
Safavid Textile Fragment with Pearls
18th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Silk-backed textile panel with applied metallic floral embroidery and pearls. 174 grams, 42.5 cm
London, UK, collection. -
Western Asiatic Gold and Bead Pendant
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Composed of a lions' head body adorned with filigree scrolls, blue glass beads above and below. 1.55 grams, 28 mm
Acquired 1970-2010. Collection of a late Japanese gentleman. -
Central Asian Bronze Compartmented Seal Matrix
3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Segmented wheel with U-shaped loop; accompanied by an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Stamp Seal of Bronze. 46 x 48 x 18. This is roughly round, compartmented, and open work except for the central star. There is a largish circle in the middle, a six-pointed star around it. and a band of 11 oblongs around the outer edge. 6 in three pairs matching the points of the stars [sic]. This is a seal from west central Asia, c. 2300-2000 B.C. It is well preserved and a largish example of its kind. There is a loop handle on the back.' 35.5 grams, 47 mm
From an important London, UK, collection, 1970s. Accompanied by a scholarly note by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology. -
Luristan Bronze Fantastic Animal Terminal
13th-6th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £312
Comprising a ring surmounted by a facing ibex head with the horns extending to two beast-heads emerging from the sides of the ring; small retaining ledge to the reverse; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 78 grams, 89 mm (224 grams total, 11.4 cm high including stand)
Fine condition.
Acquired 1990s. From an important Paris gallery, France. Ex Parisian collection.
This piece likely formed part of a horse harness. -
Western Asiatic Lapis Lazuli Animal Face Plaque
1st millennium B.C. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £169
Carved as a lion with stylised detailing in relief on a square-shaped plaque. 9 grams, 24 mm
Ex private collection, 1980s. Acquired on the UK art market in the 1990s. -
Bactrian Stone Head
1st-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £442
Modelled with stylised facial features and shoulder-length hair; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 39.9 grams total, 71 mm including stand
English private collection, 1987. Richard Rooney stand, 1990s. -
Trans-Jordan Alabaster Astarte Figure
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £650
Carved in the round with semi-naturalistic features, standing nude with her hands clasped together below her bust, hair dressed on top and flowing down her back. 36.1 grams, 79 mm high
From an important collection formed pre 1988, Geneva and London, by descent. -
Achaemenid Silver Bracelet
5th-3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
The penannular round-section hoop with animal head terminals, likely calves or deer, with stylised detailing. 26.8 grams, 70 mm
UK collection, early 1990s and before. Acquired on the UK art market since the early 2000s. From a private collection, Lancashire, UK. -
Western Asiatic Veined Alabaster Bowl
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Of conical form with flared rim. 181 grams, 12.6 cm wide
Acquired 1960s-1990s. Late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.