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LOT 0223
Byzantine Gemstone with the Personification of Constantinople
5TH CENTURY A.D.
2 3/8 in. (2.86 grams, 59 mm).
Carnelian cabochon in gold cell with ropework border, ribbed loop and chain sections; intaglio figure of Constantinople standing wearing full panoply of armour with crested helmet, holding an oval shield, a spear and supporting a globus cruciger; supplied with an impression of the seal and housed in a custom-made display case.
ProvenanceAcquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s.
Important North West London 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 a search certificate number no.11933-210475.
Cf. similar specimens in Spier, J.B., Late Antique and Early Christian Gems, Wiesbaden, 2007, pl.69, nos.561-562; for similar iconography see Zalesskaya, V.N., Early Byzantine Glyptic Art in the Hermitage Collection, Saint Petersburg, 2001, pp.175-176, fig.13; Demandt, A., Engemann, J., Imperator Caesar Flavius Constantinus - Konstantin der Grosse, Mainz, 2007, p.172, on various iconographies of personification of Constantinople.
FootnotesThe oval gem shows the personification of the new capital of the Roman Empire: Νέα Ρώμη, Constantinople, founded by Constantine the Great on the shores of the Bosphorus, on the site of the ancient Greek Megarese colony of Byzantium, on 11 May 330 A.D. The city was the new centre of the Roman Empire for the next 1123 years.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0223
Byzantine Gemstone with the Personification of Constantinople
Estimate £10,000 - 14,000€11,600 - 16,240 (for guidance only)$13,500 - 18,900 (for guidance only)
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Byzantine Gold Strap End with Facing Figure
Circa 9th-10th century A.D.Estimate: £600 - 800 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £320
The hollow-formed, tongue-shaped body adorned with a filigree border, repoussé figure with pellets on the torso and serpents framing the head. 7.40 grams, 39 mm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection. -
Byzantine Terracotta Slipper Lamp Collection
6th-7th century A.D.Estimate: £600 - 800 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £300
Comprising five oil lamps including slipper and discoid types with shaped ledge handles, each decorated with raised geometric motifs composed largely of pellets and plain lines. 337 grams total, 8.9-10.1 cm
Ex Y.M. collection, Tiberias, Israel. Private Swiss collection.
Some authors suggest that these 'candlestick' lamps were produced in or around Jerusalem: this has been confirmed by the discovery of a lamp workshop at Zuba, in which large candlestick lamps with a radiating pattern and their moulds were found. Based on evidence from the City of David and the Jewish Quarter, these lamps begin to appear in the mid-6th century and continue throughout the 7th century A.D. -
Byzantine Ribbed Bronze Bowl
Circa 12th-14th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £221
Of hemispherical form with broad everted rim, shallow fluting to the lower body. 603 grams, 15 cm wide
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.
