Bactrian Style Lapis Lazuli Bead Necklace String

Framed with a white card reveal, photographic print in muted colours of Kate Moss's face and hair; with collector's slip stating (inter alia) 'Archive Date: 12/06/01' and 'Historical Significance: This photograph was originally shot for the iconic March 2001 cover story of i-D Magazine (The Beyond Price" issue, No.207). The Madrid archive date from June 2001, track the exact moment the imagery was licensed and prepped for a premium Spanish style monthly or photography retrospective following the global announcement of Moss's first pregnancy." 174 grams, 35.5 x 28 cm including frame



Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a Harwich, UK, collector.

Narrow hoop forked at the shoulders and supporting an oval open-backed setting with a slightly convex orange carnelian intaglio depicting the head of Papposilenus facing, wearing a wreath on his bald head, long beard and open mouth; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 3.31 grams, 21.59 mm overall, 18.67 mm internal diameter (approximate size British P, USA 7 1/2, Europe 16.23, Japan 15)

There is a stable internal fissure within the intaglio.

Acquired on the European art market. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13317-257960.

The image, derived from Graeco-Roman mythology, represents Papposilenus, a semi-bestial figure with a round face dominated by a thick, unkempt beard and a completely bald head. The subject depicted is the eldest Silenus (the meaning of his name) and the wisest of Dionysus’s retinue; indeed, the infant Dionysus was entrusted to his care.

Squat in profile with stepped and carinated foot, deep shoulder to the bowl; engraved to the outer face in batada script between double horizontal rulings the legend 'Luxuriosa res vinum et tumultuosa ebrietas', a quotation from the biblical book of Proverbs, 20:1, translating to 'Wine is [a] luxurious [thing], and drunkenness is riotous'. 575 grams, 11.2 cm wide



Acquired in Paris, France, circa 2000. Personal collection of a Suffolk lady, UK.

The biblical sentence was retaken by Saint Paul, who, wanting to warn the believers against the power of wine, similarly instructed by saying: ‘Beware of drunken wine, where there is luxury’. This kind of gluttony was considered by the Fathers of the Church dangerous, in that, after it has deprived the drinker of all rational sense, it opens and reveals and releases from his chest every secret, every hidden thing: it was considered a prodigal throwaway of its own goods and those of others, deaf to rebukes, and a destroyer of every praiseworthy custom.