Byzantine Ribbed Glass Cosmetic Bottle

With stepped shoulders, D-shaped plaque, incised peacock design. 3.39 grams, 23.50 mm overall, 20.62 mm internal diameter (approximate size British U 1/2, USA 10 1/4, Europe 23.15, Japan 22)



Private collection formed in the 1970s. Ex property of an Essex, UK, businessman. Ex private Merseyside, UK, collection.

Primarily truncated spherical forms, a number displaying letters, monograms and other patterns or markings. 276 grams total, 11-32 mm



Ex Simmons Gallery, London E11, UK, in the 1990s. From a North London collection.

Comprising a triple geometric rhomboidal figure, where three rhombuses are drawn one inside the other and distinguished by different shades of yellow, white and light red, the latter figure marked in the centre by a white space; the three figures are vertically arranged in a perfect geometric axis on a light background. 36.3 kg, 114.5 cm including frame



Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11823-207411.

The tendency to use abstract and geometric motifs characterises the mosaic art of the Levant under the domination of Byzantium. Close ties can be identified between these rhomboidal figures and those of some of the famous Lebanese mosaics of Beit el Dine, or the mosaics of Tiberias and Hammat, which represent the last expression of Roman art in that area before the Islamic conquest.