Auction Highlights
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Egyptian Wooden Stela for Pa-di-Amun-(em)-ipat with Ra-Horakhty
Sold for (Inc. bp): £15,600
Arch-topped and composed of two vertical boards, coated with gesso and skilfully painted on one side; the lunette decorated with a winged sun-disc and two pendant uraei; the central vignette depicting the deceased worshipping the falcon-headed god Ra-Horakhty with the Four Sons of Horus standing behind, each with their name written above; the lower register with six lines of hieroglyphic text providing an offering formula for the benefit of the deceased: Transliteration of the hieroglyphs: 1) ḥtp-dı-͗nsw rꜤ-ḥr-Ꜣḫtı͗nṯr Ꜥ nb pt sḥḏ [.....] wsır͗ ẖntt [ım͗ntt?] 2) nṯr Ꜥ nb Ꜣbḏw dı⸗͗f pr.t-ḫrw t ḥnḳt kꜢ Ꜣpd [....] ḫt nb(t) (n) fr(t) wꜢbt […] 3) ḫt nbt nḏm dı⸗͗f ḥtpw ḏfꜢw [...]f ḫꜢ m t dı⸗͗f ḫꜢ m 4) ḥnḳt dı⸗͗f ẖꜢ ır͗p [...] dı⸗͗f ḫꜢ m ı͗[...] dı⸗͗f ḫꜢ ı(͗Ꜣ)r(r)t dı⸗͗f 5) m snṯr ḥr ḫꜢwt [...] ḳrs nfr ḥr ım͗nt nfr 6) n [..] wsır͗ [......] pꜢ-dı-͗ım͗n(m) ıp͗ Ꜣ.t ms (n) ḫꜢ [....] Translation: 1) An offering that the king and Ra-Horakhty, Great God, Lord of Heaven, the illuminated [...] Osiris Foremost [of the West?] 2) Great God, Lord of Abydos (that) he may give a voice-offering (of) bread, beer, oxen, and fowl […] everything good and pure […] 3) everything sweet, he gives offerings of provisions […] a thousand of bread, he gives a thousand of 4) beer, he gives a thousand of wine […], he gives a thousand of vines, he gives a thousand of 5) incense on the altar […] a good burial in the beautiful West 6) for […] the Osiris[…] Pa-di-Amun-(em)-ipat born (to) Kha[…]; on the verso, an old handwritten collection label reading: 'From Harding & Sm[ith] Collection Sale Sotheby 2 Nov 1922 L.N. 234. A families[sic] stele, arched top, with the deceased worshipping a standing Horus attended by the four Children of Horus and six horizontal lines of inscription in colour. SP/10a'; mounted in a custom-made wooden frame. -
Romano-Egyptian Terracotta Figure of Eros
Sold for (Inc. bp): £5,850
Depicted nude in a dynamic pose with his legs apart and the weight of the body upon his right leg, standing in front of a two storey structure, probably an oven; his left arm raised and right arm extended in front of his torso and resting on the edge of the structure; the oven painted pink at the top and white at the bottom with an offering receptacle at floor level. -
Egyptian Indurated Limestone Frog-Shaped Cosmetic Vessel
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,750
Squat ovoid in profile, modelled with the legs folded beneath the body, with hollow socket eyes, flared rim to mouth; copper lug on either side. -
Attic Black-Figure Neck-Amphora with Gorgon and Quadriga Attributed to the Swing Painter
Sold for (Inc. bp): £41,600
With inverted echinus lip and tall neck, a ribbed handle to each side with coiling lotus buds and palmettes beneath the handles; Side a) a running winged Gorgon depicted frontally, dressed in a black and red chiton; Side b) an aristocratic warrior wearing a Chalcidian helmet and driving a quadriga, the two central horses superimposed, the other two turned outward; a frieze of lotus buds and a band Greek key motifs below, the neck decorated with red and black palmettes, and elongated lotus blossoms; restored. -
Attic Red-Figure Bell Krater with Drunken Male Revellers Attributed to the Kadmos Painter
Sold for (Inc. bp): £32,500
With a high foot, laurel wreath encircling the neck, checkerboard and meander patterns alternating around the lower body, roundels of tongue motif to the handles with palmettes and tendrils below; two red-figure scenes to the body: Side a: a high-quality depiction of a kōmos composed of five figures, including a young man holding a torch, a double flute player next to three dancers, all possibly followers of Dionysus; Side b: three draped figures conversing comprising a central female figure between two opposed male figures, one holding a staff; two old labels: one with 3061-133 on the inner rim, and 113/2 (believed to be an old Christie's lot label from the 1960s by Richard Falkiner) on the sidewall, further old accession numbers 321 and 35 under the base. -
Hellenistic Gold Ring with Galley Gemstone
Sold for (Inc. bp): £29,900
With D-section hollow-formed hoop and flared ellipsoid bezel, set with a Roman intaglio depicting a war galley under sail. -
Roman 'Published' Terracotta Oil Lamp with Fighting Gladiators
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
Grey fabric, broad discus with concentric rings and chamfered shoulder, short nozzle flanked by volute scrolls; scene of two murmillo gladiators in combat, one having fallen to the ground; maker's stamp to the underside 'MAR[..]S'; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Roman Inked Wooden Tablet for a Contract Between Bassus and Neronianus
Sold for (Inc. bp): £15,600
A reused tablet with a recessed panel on one side, the last tablet of a legal document which consisted of two (diptychon) or three tablets (triptychon); ten black inked lines of New Roman cursive script, the end of a record of a transaction in formulaic legal language, probably a sales contract, between the buyer (emptor) Bassus and a person called Neronianus; traces of text (perhaps in rustic capitals) to the reverse. -
Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,800
Modelled with naturalistic features, gazing left, sculpted pupils and strong lids; luxuriant beard and moustache framing the face; strong forehead with tightly formed curls emerging from beneath the lion's skin hood; the hood with clear eye detailing and the mane with regularly arranged tufts; original iron pin to the front of the muzzle; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Roman Marble Head of Dionysus
Sold for (Inc. bp): £23,400
From a Greek original, wearing a crown of leaves and corymbs, hair falling in straight lines underneath the diadem; full beard composed of four rows of thick tufts with drilled holes; slightly open mouth with a fleshy lower lip; low cheekbones and hollow cheeks; large almond-shaped eyes with lachrymal duct; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
'The Anglesey' Romano-British Marble Head of a Celtic Warrior
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,150
Carved with comma-leaf detailing to the hair, a low brow over almond-shaped eyes, broad triangular nose and thick moustache obscuring the mouth; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Proto-Sumerian Terracotta Tablet with Archaic Text
Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,050
Lentoid-section slab with incised grid to each face: one with three columns, impressed roundels and crescents, grid and other symbols; the other face with four columns, each cell filled with marks and symbols. -
Babylonian Cuneiform Tablet, a Clothes Receipt from Puzur-Akum to Astaqar
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,640
Pillow-shaped clay tablet with cuneiform text to both broad faces and one edge from Garšana (iv/Šu-Sîn 8?), a receipt for various clothing, with several dedications to the deities Ninsiana, Mami, Dadmuštum and Šubula; Dadmuštum is rarely mentioned, reading: '1 tu ba-tab tuh-hu-um 3-kam us 2 1 tu ša -ga-du ba-tab tug-hu-um / 3-kam us 1 tu ta -ki-ru-um 3-kam us 4 dnin- dsi -an-na 4 tu guz-za 4-kam us 6 2 tu guz-za 4-kam us dma-mi x ? 2 tu guz-za 4-kam us / dda-ad-muš-tum R 8 2 tu niĝ -lam 4-kam us dšu-bu-la ki-la -bi 26 1/3 ma-na 10 2 tu bar-dul us-bar 4 tu sag us-bar 12 5 tu us -bar 4 ma-na 3 tu mug 14 ki !-aš-ta -gar -ta puzur -a-ku-um šu ba-ti 16 iti ki-siki- dnin-a-zu mu ma -gur -mah mu-/dim' translation: '1 (simple) garment batab tuhhum (a kind of fabric?), thrice, medium quality 1 garment šagadu (of linen) batab tuhhum thrice, medium quality 1 garment takirum, thrice, medium quality (for) Ninsiana; 4 tufted garments, in quadruple, medium quality 2 tufted garments, in quadruple, medium quality : (for) Mami 2 tufted garments, in quadruple, medium quality : (for) Dadmuštum. 2 niglam garments, in quadruple, medium quality : (for) Šubula Their weight is 26 1/3 mines. 2 bardul garments (from) the weavers 4 garments if first quality (from) the weavers 5 (simple) garments étoffes (from) the weavers : 4 mines 3 garments in coarse wool Puzur-Akum has received (these garments) from Aštaqar. In the month of Kisiki.Ninazu The year in which the big (ceremonial) boat was built'. -
Western Asiatic Ceramic Ibex Rhyton
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,800
With trumpet-shaped mouth, ibex-shaped finial with curved horns and legs folded beneath the body, spout to the chest; repaired. -
Celtiberian Gold Neck Torc
Sold for (Inc. bp): £14,950
A heavy penannular neck torc with carinated body and tapering coiled terminals. -
'The Dullingham' Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Great Square-Headed Brooch
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,120
With trapezoidal headplate, shallow bow, narrow triangular foot and pelta-shaped finial, pin-lugs and catch to the reverse; the headplate with (originally silvered) angled panels to the upper corners and D-shaped lug at the middle of the upper edge; rectangular corner panels interrupting a frieze of Salin's Style I face motifs, inner plain band and raised rectangular panel above the junction with the ribbed bow; lappets of Salin's Style I profile heads flanking the junction of the bow with the footplate and vertical bar running to the finial, bisecting a cruciform panel with Salin's Style I zoomorphic forms, and outer plain lobes; finial comprising a disc with four radiating ribbed arms and central boss, pelta-shaped terminal; cleaned and one lateral lobe reattached. -
'The Driffield' Anglo-Saxon Enamelled Bowl Mount
Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,160
With a slightly domed profile and a raised circumferential border to the upper face; decorated with Celtic designs featuring elaborate curvilinear tendrils and triskele-style swirls enclosing an area of fine-line trumpet spiral designs, set around a central rectangular panel filled with millefiori-style enamel work in the form of an irregular chequerboard of blue and yellow enamel, the circular recesses retaining red enamel traces; two parallel rivets to the reverse. -
'The Ferryhill' Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Three-Dimensional Urnes Stirrup-Type Mount with Head of Odin
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,100
A bowed anthropomorphic mount in the form of the face of Odin, with oval right and damaged left eye, beard and hair raised to form a convex shape, rounded cheeks, a triangular nose and a beard, moustache with lateral protrusion, the hair openwork and formed of entwined linear elements, five rivet holes present. -
Medieval Decorated 'He who loves from the heart, gives with a good heart' Posy Boxwood Comb
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,100
Central panel decorated with a heart pierced by two arrows and inscription: 'qui de bon [COER] eyme', and verso openwork carving of blind interlaces and inscription: 'de bon [COER] donne', translating to 'He who loves from the heart, gives with a good heart'; probably given as a love token. -
Medieval Bronze Aquamanile of a Male Bust
Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,050
Hollow-formed vessel formed as a male bust; discoid body with chamfered shoulder bearing bands of running zigzag detailing and three splayed feet; the head with low-relief hair and rim of bosses with linear spirals, gracile facial features with lentoid eyes and slender nose, small pouting mouth; short spout to the forehead, filler-hole to top of the head with hinged cover; handle to the rear formed as a reptile with head and forepaws placed on the hair below the hinge and joining the base above one of the feet. -
Medieval Limoges Gilt Christ Crowned on the Cross
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,150
Parcel-gilt bronze crucifix with cloisonné enamel geometric ornament; separate appliqué Corpus Christi, crowned with detailed musculature; lower legs and feet absent; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Medieval Chrismatory with Limoges Panels
Sold for (Inc. bp): £22,100
Inner wooden casket with chamfered rim and separate lid, encased within rectangular gilt-bronze panels with enamel decoration, four gilt-bronze stud feet to the underside; the lid with three nimbate figures, a female saint with palm frond and two flanking figures holding books, all reserved on a blue field with interstitial polychrome rosettes; Side A: nimbate bearded bust of Christ in Majesty with right hand in gesture of benison, left hand supporting a book, flanked by two winged nimbate angels; Side B: nimbate bust of a winged angel in a roundel; Side C: geometric repeating pattern of lozenges with floral fill; Side D: mirror image of Side B. -
Medieval Gold Heraldic Signet Ring with Goat
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
Substantial D-section hoop, expanding shoulders with reserved flowers and foliage, discoid bezel with intaglio regardant leaping goat in a pelletted ring, fronds and stars in the field, enigmatic inscription 'd[..] / de.to'. -
Medieval Bronze Corpus Christi
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13,650
With flat-topped crown, hair hanging in hanks to the shoulders, long D-shaped face with domed eyes, slender figure with ribs emphasised, knee-length loincloth falling in rippling folds; mounted on a custom-made stand.
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Viking Silver Gripping Beast Pendant
Late 10th-early 11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £374
With integral loop; the openwork plaque with banded border and four panels, internal stylised zoomorph with hatched panel to the hip, gripping three-fingered hands to the body and border, two detailed feet, clearly visible facing mask below the loop with pellet eyes. 5.7 grams, 35 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking and Saxon Artefact Group
8th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Including a narrow beast-head strap-end, a military strap-end fragment, a stirrup mount and looped fitting. 49.9 grams total, 26-40 mm
Acquired since the 1970s. From the private collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Viking Age Silver Bracelet with Pendants and Amulets
Circa 10th-12th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,300
With sliding closure, amuletic charms comprising two rolled silver dirhem coins, a 'firesteel' pendant, a beaded ring with two miniature Thor's hammers. 24.1 grams total, bracelet 72.52 mm wide
Ex property of a professional collector; acquired before 1990. -
Viking Age Silver Axehead Pendant
Circa 8th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £286
Tapering axehead pendant on a ring with coiled ends, triangular punched detailing. 3.75 grams, 44 mm
Acquired on the London art market in the late 1980s-1990s. From the family collection of an East London, UK, gentleman. -
Viking Age Scandinavian Silver Filigree Lozenge-Shaped Pendant
Circa 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £715
With integral loop, twisted filigree rim, applied filigree knot and scroll motifs, granules and central boss. 1.92 grams, 31 mm
Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK. -
Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Stirrup Apex Mount Group
Circa 11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £222
Comprising: one mount of Class A Type 8 with three attachment holes, and one of Class A Type 6 with upper loop broken. 27 grams total, 44-47 mm
Found near Lyndhurst, New Forest, Hampshire, UK. -
Viking Age Silver Mount with Lunar Pendant
Circa 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £98
Discoid mount with repoussé animal design, pierced for attachment of a crescent dangle. 2.65 grams, 45 mm
Property of the vendor's grandfather, thence by family descent, circa 1985. From the private collection of a New York, USA gentleman. -
Viking Decorated Gold Ring
8th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £390
With medial band of pellets between shallow channels. 1.64 grams, 17.62 mm overall, 16.17 mm internal diameter (approximate size British J 1/2, USA 5, Europe 9.32, Japan 9)
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Noblewoman's Bronze Headdress Fragments
9th-12th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £442
Two large fragments of headdress with plaited fibre, each composed from tightly-wound wire tubes and vertical flat-section plaques with repoussé pellet detailing on a plaited hemp base. 104 grams total, 19-23 cm
UK gallery, early 2000s. -
Frankish Bronze Buckle with Phallic Symbol
6th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £683
The headplate engraved with an ithyphallic penis at the centre enclosed within concentric geometric borders, three domed studs to the perimeter; the penis motif repeated in smaller plate forming part of the tongue, oval-shaped buckle engraved with clusters of vertical lines; remains of tinning; three pierced attachment lugs to reverse; repaired. 70 grams, 86 mm
with Paris Hôtel Drouot, 12 July 2005, lot 152. Private collection, Europe. -
Viking Age Bronze Bracelet with Club Terminals
Circa 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Penannular with thick clubbed terminals. 35.1 grams, 58 mm
From a London collection; acquired on the UK and European art markets before 2001. -
Viking Age Silver Decorated Axe-Shaped Pendant
Circa 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Trapezoidal in plan with punched pellets and pointillé border, central serpent motif. 1.95 grams, 30 mm
Property of the vendor's grandfather, thence by family descent, circa 1985. From the private collection of a New York, USA gentleman.