With a wide D-section hoop, inscription to the inner face reading 'In god alone wee two are one' with long e. 6.37 grams, 22.95 mm overall, 20.22 mm internal diameter (approximate size British U 1/2, USA 10 1/4, Europe 23.15, Japan 22)

Ex Lionel collection, formed 1980s.
From the Horton collection, UK.

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'. 23.95 grams, 27.22 mm overall, 21.97 mm internal diameter (approximate size British Z, USA 12 1/2, Europe 28.77, Japan 27)

Ex Notaras Coins & Antiquities, 2014.
European private collection.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12120-211871.

Cf. Chadour, A.B., Rings. The Alice and Louis Koch Collection, volume I, Leeds, 1994, item 617, for type.

Comprising a heavy D-section hoop and a thick round bezel, engraved facing lion to the centre with inscription 'yn : dede' above for 'in deed' or indeed'. 23.16 grams, 26.37 mm overall, 20.88 mm internal diameter (approximate size British W 1/2, USA 11 1/4, Europe 25.66, Japan 24)

Ex D.S. Lavendar, London, UK.
Property of a North American gallery, acquired in 2012.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12121-214333.

Cf. The British Museum, London, inv.no.AF771, for a comparable ring.

The inscription, a means of expressing agreement, has not yet been matched to a particular family motto. However, the Anglo-Saxon words and the possible later date of the ring suggests that this is a motto descended from one of the Marcher Lords, or Knights Marchers. The latter occupied the border land between Wales and England, and were granted special privileges and status by William the Conqueror, and were virtually independent rulers.

Sheet silver cup with applied reeded strip to the rim, repoussé detailing of alternating piriform flowers on a hatched field; fluted band below and basal ring; the rim with a tightly looped flat-section ribbed handle, piercings below the rim and two pairs of birds perched looking inwards. 124 grams, 95 mm

Acquired on the London art market in the late 1980s-1990s.
From the family collection of an East London, UK, gentleman.

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. 500 grams total, 23 cm high including stand

Former collection of the late (d.1955) Bishop of Tournus.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12040-211844.

Cf. Zarnecki, G., Holt, J. & Holland, T., English Romanesque Art 1066-1200, London, 1984, item 236, for type.

Vellum 'two-page spread' with stitching holes flanking the central column; left page with dense bastarda script in black ink with green and red versals and ornament; right page with large initial majuscule 'D' and floral panels extending across the upper edge of the text and down the left margin, the bow of the 'D' filled with dense leaf, tendril and floral detailing, text of Psalm 110. 2.65 kg, 60 x 45 cm

with Sotheby's, London, 7 December 1999, no.9.

With low-relief floral detailing to the obverse, nimbate bust to the finial of each arm, affixed Corpus Christi with knee-length loincloth; reverse with similar ornament, central low-relief image of Crucifixion; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 2.49 kg total, 50 cm high including stand

with Francis Janssens van der Maelen, 11 March 2003, no.997.
Private collection, Suffolk, UK.

Accompanied by a previous illustrated catalogue page.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12043-212164.

Applied cross bottony silver-gilt plates with frond detailing to the edges, pounced fields, reserved running tendril motif with gilt detailing; high-relief quatrefoil panels with emblems of the four evangelists; Corpus Christi modelled in the round with gilt loincloth, cross roundel to the rear; later wooden mounting with loop to the reverse. 758 grams, 46.5 cm

with Lopez de Aragon, Madrid, 2014.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12044-212171.

Cf. Wixom, W.D., Mirror of the Medieval World, New York, 1999, item 225, for type.

Wooden end-boards covered with tooled leather, later reinforced with a new plain leather spine and replaced twine stringers; psaltery with decorated title page in Ge'ez script, red and black ink; parchment pages with dry-point guidelines, black text with red detailing; some pages with decorative polychrome busts, architectural features, etc. 3.5 kg, 32.5 x 24.5 cm

Ex Claudia Belcher, London, until 2005.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12045-212183.

Comprising two recessed panels, the left hand panel showing biblical scenes divided into two panels: in the upper panel the deposition of Christ in the tomb and the Resurrection of God, holding a flag in his left hand and grasping the hand of Adam with the right; in the lower panel the flagellation of Christ and the road to the Calvary; Ge'ez inscriptions on the field; the right hand panel showing the Crucifixion, Ge'ez inscriptions on the field. 946 grams total, 32.5 x 21.5 - 33 x 21.5 cm

Ex Alistair McAlpine collection, 2004.
Ex central London gallery.

See Chojnacki, S., Major Themes in Ethiopian Painting, indigenous developments, the influence of foreign models and their adaptation, from the 13th to the 19th century, Wiesbaden, 1983, figs.90, 91, for similar Crucifixion and Resurrection scenes.

The icon shows Western influence on Ethiopian art. The Crucifixion image contains many elements of this iconography which are found in many Oriental and Western art of the Middle Ages, but with significant changes from the previous representations: Jesus is nailed with three nails and not four, the head leaning towards his right shoulder and the hair falling on his shoulders. Following the Western influence, Christ is represented in a spasm of physical pain, and consequently a more detailed anatomy of his chest and abdomen is depicted. This concept of the Crucifixion, common in the Italian Late Middle Age and Renaissance art, found its way to Ethiopia at some time towards the end of the 15th century, or at the beginning of the 16th century. As in the majority of the Resurrection icons of this period, Christ is dressed in a long robe with a cloak or toga draped over one shoulder.

Carved rectangular diptych with pierced suspension bar above and braided thread hinges; obverse with ornate reserved cross on a field with concentric chip-carved borders; reverse with off-set quatrefoil in a square frame with concentric bands surrounding; hatched panels and saltires to the lateral edges; left inner panel a painted scene of the Crucifixion with Ge'ez script text surrounding; right panel with three nimbate figures. 98 grams, 8.4 x 10.2 cm

Ex Henry Brownrigg, 1999.

Painted on board with reinforcing panel to the reverse, gessoed surface with painting depicting the resurrected Christ revealing his wounds to St Thomas, who is reaching towards the fifth stigmata with his raised forefinger, the apostles having gathered around the pair witnessing the inspection of the wounds; Christ standing within a framed doorway with gilt dome above. 1.58 kg, 48.5 cm highFine condition, some repainting.

Ex property of a London lady, part of her family's collection.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11545-196368.

See Psilakis, N., Byzantine Churches and Monasteries of Crete, Heraklion, 1998; Evans, H.C., The Arts of Byzantium, New York, 2001; for the iconography of the scene see Horn, M., ‘The incredulity of Saint Thomas on a Byzantine Sapphire from the Cheapside Hoard, London: A proposal for a new dating to the Palaiologan Period’ in Bosselmann-Ruickbie, A. (ed.), New Research on Late Byzantine Goldsmiths Works (13th-15th centuries), BOO, bd 13, Mainz, 2019, pp.165-183.

The icon represents a well known iconography from the New Testament, Gospel of Saint John, chapter 20, in which the resurrected Christ stands beside ‘Doubting Thomas’, supposedly the most sceptical of the twelve apostles. In this chapter Christ appears to Thomas’s fellow disciples while Thomas himself is absent and upon his return, Thomas’s friends tell him about Christ’s resurrection, which Thomas does not believe in. After eight days pass, Jesus comes again, and this time Thomas is confronted by his Lord: “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing.”