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LOT 0167
Byzantine Terracotta Pilgrim Flask with a Saint
6TH CENTURY A.D.
3 in. (3 1/2 in.) (47.2 grams, 77 mm (71.4 grams total, 91 mm including stand)).
Piriform in profile with two thick lug handles to the shoulder, obverse with low-relief facing figure holding a large cross and orb, reverse with facing figure with hand held up in the orans posture; with a display stand.
ProvenanceEx private collection, Mrs L.S., 1990s.
Acquired from the above, 2001.
Private European collection.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12110-218216.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0167
Byzantine Terracotta Pilgrim Flask with a Saint
Estimate £1,800 - 2,400€2,090 - 2,780 (for guidance only)$2,430 - 3,240 (for guidance only)
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Byzantine Inscribed Lead Spindle Whorl
5th-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Discoid with central void and portion of the shank embedded; inscribed with Greek characters '+AEB Φ BEPETEAI'. 2.66 grams, 18 mm
Acquired on the London, UK, art market in the 1990s. From a gentleman's private collection.
Similar objects could have been manufactured to look like spindle whorls, while they were in fact used as beads and/or amulets. The current evidence may suggest that these items were burial goods for females. They are sometimes seen incised with Greek letters and symbols that seem to suggest a cryptic onomata barbara formula. In this context, they can be viewed as mystical objects with the function of transmitting a message to the Other World, and the sheer mass of letters intended to convey the idea of an authoritative communication inaccessible to ordinary human being. -
Byzantine Garnet Set Gold Pendant
6th-8th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Domed sheet-gold pendant with filigree hoops and granulation, four cells each with a gemstone cabochon, lateral loops. 2.68 grams, 19 mm
From a late Japanese specialist collector, 1970-2000s. -
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Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Bronze Cross Group
7th-19th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Comprising: a cross buckle with pin; the upper plate of a small enkolpion with a praying Virgin or Saint; two orthodox pectoral crosses, both with inscription 'IC' (Iesus) 'XC' (Christos ) 'NIKA' (Christ is victorious); the smallest cross with invocation-prayer engraved on the back. 51.8 grams total, 36-73 mm
Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a Ruislip, UK, gentleman, by inheritance.
The fragment of the simpler Maltese cross mount corresponds to the type E2 of Schulze-Dörrlamm, here with straight arms with rounded corners. It resembles the cross-shaped hinge fittings of the belt buckles from Herrera de Pisuerga and tomb 9 from El Tesorillo from Visigoth Spain, two bronze fittings from Lusitania and the buckle with busts of saints and the Greek inscription 'Light and Life' from Korbous in Tunisia. These kind of buckles were also found in male warrior graves.
