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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Western Asiatic Blue Glass Bottle
13th-14th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
With a tapering cylindrical body and bulbous base, applied trails, scrolls and loop handle; remains of iridescence, repaired. 73.9 grams, 16 cm
London private collection, 1979-1983. -
Achaemenid Silver Ring with Warriors
7th-4th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £176
With scaphoid bezel, incuse image of an armoured warrior with shield and spear, a horseman and a hatched gate or wall. 4.12 grams, 25.84 mm overall, 21.41 mm internal diameter (approximate size British V, USA 10 1/2, Europe 23.77, Japan 22)
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. -
Southern Mesopotamian Ceramic Mother Goddess Figure
2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £585
The figure with two pierced ears and painted face detailing, neck ornamentation and arm bangles, continuing to the reverse; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 61 grams total, 13 cm high including stand
Ex UK collection formed in the 1980s. Acquired on the London art market. Accompanied by an Artemission, London SW5, certificate of authenticity.
Terracotta was a favoured material for the production of idols in the ancient Near East, the idols themselves representing deities, particularly goddesses that were connected to fertility. Such idols could even represent worshippers themselves. The Neo-Hittite civilisation, also known as the 'Syro-Hittite' civilisation, existed during the Iron Age in the areas that are now modern day northern Syria and Southern Anatolia. The Hittite empire collapsed around the 12th century B.C., an event which was proceeded by the decline of the Eastern Mediterranean trade networks, together with the fall of the major late Bronze Age cities in the Levant, Anatolia, and the Aegean. -
Western Asiatic Terracotta Chalice
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Composed of a bowl with convex wall, everted rim and splayed foot; painted with a frieze of geometric motifs to the exterior and rim interior; repaired. 1.3 kg, 25 cm wide
Fine condition, base repaired.
Acquired 1970s-1990s. Ex Pars Gallery, Mayfair, London, UK. From a specialist collection of pottery. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Flat Axe
Circa 3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Comprising a wedge-shaped blade and piriform handle. 156 grams, 17.7 cm
UK private collection formed before 2000. Ex North London, UK, gallery.
These blades were fitted directly to the handle or via a sheath. Flat axes, whose axis is parallel to that of the handle, often had a rounded edge like in our specimen, or a flared and bevelled edge, while flat adzes have an axis perpendicular to that of the handle and a bevel edge on one side only. Their shape comes directly from the lithic axes of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. -
Luristan Bronze Artefact Group
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Comprising a pendant in the form of a spearhead, balustered neck with suspension loop; remains of a spearhead with tang. 38.4 grams total, 8.5-18 cm
with a London, UK gallery 1971-early 2000s. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Artefact Group
Circa 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Comprising a tinned and gently carinated bowl with inverted rim; bracelet with raised rib to the expanded bezel and coiled arms; tinned piriform jar or vase; a cup with D-section medial band, integral foot and collector's identification label to base; spool-shaped fitting with decorative notching; bowl with foot and everted rim, symbol to interior base; bowl with lotiform base and broad everted rim; bowl with scalloped rim. 1.6 kg total, 4.3-17 cm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection. -
Holy Land Miniature Burnished Ceramic Bowl
EB I, circa 3000 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Roughly hemispherical in form with small discoid foot. 95 grams, 90 mm wide
From an important specialist collection formed in London, UK, before 1988. -
Babylonian Brick Fragment from the Grand Palace of Nebuchadnezzar
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £975
Bearing lines of stamped Babylonian cuneiform inscription to one face, framed with old label which reads: 'BABYLON / Inscribed kiln baked brick from the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar. The inscription in cuneiform gives the name of the king, the builder and the date. Circa 2000 B.C. 300 grams total, 14.5 x 14.5 cm
Ex Kathleen Bouch (né Graves-Morris), circa 1930. From the collection of John Wyn Graves-Morris, who had it until his death in 2012; thence by descent. -
Central Asian Bronze Compartmented Seal Matrix
2300-2000 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Wheel-shaped stamp seal; 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. 38 x 37 x 15 mm. This is round, with flat face and flat back, on which is a handle of inverted U-shape. The design, which is compartmented and open-work, consists of a plain outer band, and within it but not touching it is a central rhomb, joined to the outer band by two rough crescent shapes, bulging at the ends, and close to each other in the middle. This comes from west central Asia and dates to c. 2300-2000 B.C. It is in very good condition save that the outer rim is worn down.' 15 grams, 37 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. -
Sassanian Agate Stamp Seal with Bird
3rd-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Standing right to base in stylised form, drilled for suspension and held on a fabric thong. 7.7 grams, 20 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Western Asiatic Tall Ceramic Vessel
12th-13th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Unglazed with biconvex body, slightly flared foot, ribbed shoulder and tubular neck; bands of irregular scratch detailing to neck and shoulder; hole to base. 720 grams, 26 cm
Fine condition, hole to the base.
Acquired on the European art market in the 1990s. Ex property of a Suffolk collector.