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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Syro-Levantine Bronze Standing Statuette
Circa 13th-11th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £520
Modelled in the round male figure wearing a knee-length kilt with hem and waistband; in advancing pose with left leg extended; the neck long, face with pinched detailing and deep sockets to the eyes (to accept inlays); conical cap with flattened apex; the shoulders modelled with shallow sockets to accept separate arms; mounting lug beneath left foot; mounted on a custom-made stand. 108 grams total, 12.7 cm 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. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Deer's Head
1st millennium B.C. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £390
Modelled with hatched edges to the pricked ears, large almond-shaped eyes, pointillé nostrils; mounted on a custom-made stand. 154 grams total, 10 cm 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. -
Jemdet Nasr Haematite Cylinder Seal
Circa 3100-2850 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
With drilled and incised geometric design. 5.7 grams, 32 mm
Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector, collection no.12. London collection, 2016. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Ram's Head Fitting from a Whetstone
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Comprising a barrel-shaped collar with raised corrugated rim to each end; flat-section curved neck with beast-head finial, incised circular eyes, long curved horns. 115 grams total, 84 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. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Round Cup
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Hemispherical in profile with flat rim. 96 grams total, 10.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. -
Trans-Jordan Polished Terracotta Bowl
Early Bronze Age, 3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £98
Hemispherical in profile with small foot, dimple to the underside; rim chipped. 145 grams, 65 mm high
From a family collection pre 1988. -
Trans-Jordan Holy Land Terracotta Bowl
Early Bronze Age, 3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
With wide piriform body and low foot, decorative band with four low lugs below the rim. 1.42 kg, 25 cm wide
From a London, UK, collection. Ex 'Hand of the Potter' Exhibition, Piccadilly 1990s. -
Western Asiatic Pottery Group
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Comprising vessels and bowls of various shapes; some with painted detailing. 1.9 kg total, 5.5-16.5 cm
From a London, UK, collection, 1980-1990. -
Western Asiatic Mixed Stone and Glass Necklace Bead Collection
1st millennium B.C. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £195
Comprising a quantity of mixed beads in lapis lazuli, shell, carnelian, agate, glass, ceramic and others. 87 grams total, 3-19 mm
UK gallery, early 2000s.
There are mainly two types of beads, drawn beads (when the tubes are cut in a short segments, which are usually agitated over heat to smooth off the sharp edges) or wound beads (made by wrapping molten glass around a rock, stick or wire). Once the bead is formed, it can be further pressed or paddled into shape, placed in a mould, or decorated with other colours of glass. -
Sassanian Stone Seal with Four Animal Heads
4th-5th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
Plano-convex seal with conjoined animal heads; accompanied by a copy of an old scholarly note dated April 1999, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Stamp Seal of Goethite 16x19x15.4 mm. This is a decorated ellipsoid with nearly round flat face, the back with large suspension hole and decorated with three pairs of two raised circles. The design consists of the protomes of four creatures joining the middle: bull, ram (or ibex), stag and eagle. Around them are three fillers: two stars and a crescent. This is a Sassanian seal. c.200-500 A.D. It is in very good condition and has a very rare design. No doubt there is some symbolism in these four creatures, but the present writer does not know what it is.' 8.46 grams, 19 mm
UK private collection, 1980-1983. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note dated April 1999, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993. -
Luristan Bronze Seal with Long Handle
13th-7th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Columnar in form with hatched shank, scooped ribs to the shoulder and foot, pierced knop above, trumpet-shaped base with array of pellets to the underside. 22 grams, 75 mm
From a collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s. -
Late Achaemenid Bronze Phiale Mesomphalos
6th-4th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £273
A broad carinated bowl with radiating repoussé panels, central slightly domed roundel, carination below the rim. 233 grams, 17.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.