Auction Highlights
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Egyptian Granite Head of a Dignitary
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
Carved with soft facial features and carefully executed cosmetic lines around the eye, earring, and carefully detailed duplex wig with gently wavy curls; likely from the Ramesside Period; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Etruscan Bronze Statuette of Herakles
Sold for (Inc. bp): £18,200
Modelled in the round with a muscular nude body, his club resting on his shoulder and the hair dressed in rows of tight, close-set curls underneath the Nemean lionskin hood with cloak billowing over his left arm, the paws tied across his chest; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Roman Marble Portrait of a Boy as Worshipper of Isis
Sold for (Inc. bp): £17,550
Carved head of a prepubescent worshipper of Isis, with soft facial features, long nose, small downturned mouth, heavy-lidded eyes, the whole giving the face a sombre or mournful appearance; the hair textured to indicate a short cut and combed forward across the scalp, sidelock above the right ear; mounted on a 16th century carved breccia upper body with leather cuirass and pteruges to right shoulder, cloak draped across the shoulders and fastened at the clavicle on the right side with a disc-brooch; socle base; some restoration. -
Larger Than Life-Size Roman Bronze Sandaled Foot
Sold for (Inc. bp): £39,000
Modelled in the round and originally part of a monumental statue, the naturalistic right foot encased in a trochades leather sandal with median reversed tongue secured with side straps and thick looped laces; the thick platform sole slightly curved, toes and nails well defined; mounted on a substantial custom-made display stand. -
Life-Size Roman Marble Sleeping Girl from a Sarcophagus Lid
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20,800
Modelled in the half-round, nude with eyelids half-closed in sleep; a drapery partly covering the head and wrapping around the lower body under the hips; the hairstyle similar to those of the Antonine Dynasty, the peaceful face supported by the hands and the ear pierced to accept an earring; iron reinforcing rod to the feet and the right arm's armilla a later replacement; upper head restored in Parian marble. -
Byzantine Porphyry Relief with Cross Surrounded by Two Birds
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
An imposing panel divided to four sections by a central cross on a stepped pedestal, the lower and upper arm with branch-like extensions; the upper quadrants with a circlet surrounding a palm tree-shaped motif; each lower quadrant with a bird in profile facing back; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Carved Marble Memento Mori Skull
Sold for (Inc. bp): £16,900
Carved skull on a short neck with musculature and blood vessels; mandible in place with some teeth in sockets, wisps of hair adhering to the dome of the skull; one zygomatic bone partly absent; square-section socle base. -
'The Kelton' Gandharan Head of a Bodhisattva
Sold for (Inc. bp): £24,700
Carved in the half-round head of a Bodhisattva (probably Maitreya) with fine detailing to the arched brow, aquiline nose, neat moustache and full lips; the eyes heavily lidded, urna to the forehead, long open lobes to the ears; the hair in multi-stranded curling locks gathered into an ushnisha with brow-band below; heavily cleaned, conserved, and mounted on a custom-made stand; supplied with original old wooden base with collector's label: 'Head of Bodhisattva / Fine grain schist / Gandhara, Northwest Pakistan / 4th century'.
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Roman and Byzantine Bronze Ring Group
Circa 3rd-16th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
Including trumpet-bezel, square bezel, ellipsoid bezel and other types. 25 grams total, 15-24 mm
Ex C. Sullivan collection, UK, 1990s. -
Roman Bronze Pin Finial with Actor
1st-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
With an iron pin, the finial formed as a standing comedy actor with long curly hair, hands clasped together. 22.7 grams, 89 mm
Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Roman Glass Bracelet Group
3rd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
Comprising: a turquoise D-section bangle with a flattened panel to the upper face; an opaque round-section twisted bracelet with flattened terminals; a dark brown ceramic(?) keeled bangle with notched edges. 31.18 grams total, 50-70 mm
Collected from 1970-1999. From the collection of the late Mr S.M., London, UK. -
Roman Bronze Ring for 'Sixtus'
2nd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £416
Ellipsoid bezel with 'SIXT' in seriffed capitals. 3.34 grams, 21.50 mm overall, 18.12 mm internal diameter (approximate size British O, USA 7, Europe 14.98, Japan 14)
Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman.
The Roman personal name 'Sixtus' is usually assumed to be an adaptation of Greek 'Ξυστος' meaning 'polished. However, in Latin, it originally indicated the sixth child born in the family. -
Roman Bronze Plate Brooch Collection
1st century B.C-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
One tinned with central boss; one bell-shaped with glass inlay; another shaped as an amphora with remains of enamelling. 12 grams total, 22-38 mm
Ex property of an Austrian private collector since the 1970s.
The group includes an Alesia type brooch (25 B.C.-15 A.D.); a skeuomorphic plate brooch; and a possible variant of the fan-headed or radiate brooch. -
Late Roman Bone Dice Gaming Piece
4th-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £221
Cuboid with incised ring-and-dot markings disposed 1:6, 2:5, 3:4; old collector's label '230' to one face. 3.16 grams, 12 mm
Found Wiltshire, UK. From the important private collection of dice and gaming pieces of Colin Narbeth, London, UK, collection no.230. -
Roman Bronze Bracelet Pair
1st-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Comprising two penannular bracelets, one round-section and the other with segmented D-section body. 36.8 grams total, 56-61 mm
Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Roman Bronze Ring with Lion
1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
With ellipsoid bezel, incuse lion attacking a goat. 3.11 grams, 24.39 mm overall, 20.02 mm internal diameter (approximate size British T, USA 9 1/2, Europe 21.26, Japan 20)
UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a London gentleman. -
Roman Bronze Jeweller's Hammer
1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
With a slender looped handle attached to a double-ended hammer of waisted profile. 9.37 grams, 66 mm
Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Roman Bronze Statuette of Priapus
1st century B.C.-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Modelled in the round, the god standing wearing a paenula, his two hands holding up the hem to support a pile of fruits on his erect penis; mounted on a custom-made stand. 116 grams total, 72 mm including stand
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. -
Roman Blue Glass Vessel with Vine Leaf Design
Early 1st century A.D. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £585
Of piriform shape with iridescent surfaces, decorated with later applied fruiting vines in high-relief, a stylised rosette to the vessel's base; restored; rim chipped. 186 grams, 11.5 cm
London gentleman; acquired by his father in the 1970s; thence by descent. Private collection, England. -
Roman Bronze Oil Lamp Lid
1st-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
A domed lid with a loop to the edge; the upper face with intricate hair design showing voluminous, carefully rendered curls. 61 grams, 72 mm
From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.