Eastern Roman Hardstone Gemstone Group

Octagonal in plan with chamfered edges to the marble surface; engraved central square with birds in the upper corners and spandrels below, enclosing a bilinear ring with menorah on a stand between etrog and lulav; mounted on a custom-made stand. 577 grams total, 14.2 cm including stand



From an important UK collection, London, 1970-1990s. Ex London, UK, collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12527-231879. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

An extremely rare and fine example of the type. The menorah is first mentioned in the Book of Exodus (25:31–40), according to which the design of the lamp was revealed to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. The candlestick was to be forged out of a single piece of gold and was to have six branches, ‘three on one side, and three on the other’, There are no extant images of the menorah from the First Temple period, but many examples dating from the Second Temple period have been recorded. The menorah was often depicted flanked by symbolic ritual objects. Here, with what appear to be the etrog (citron) and lulav (date-palm branch) of the festival of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). A new Menorah was installed in the Second Temple, built after the return from exile in Babylon. This was looted by Antiochos Epiphanes in 169 BCE when he desecrated the Temple.  With tragic wit, the Jews named him Epimanes, or ‘the madman’, when it became apparent that his policies were violently anti-Jewish. However, after the Maccabean Revolt (167-160 BCE) Judas Maccabeus ordered the construction of a new seven-branched candelabra to be placed in the Temple. The rededication is still celebrated with the festival of Hanukkah (‘to dedicate’). According to rabbinic tradition, the victorious Maccabees could only find a small jug of pure olive oil uncontaminated by virtue of a seal, and although it only contained enough oil to sustain the Menorah for one day, it miraculously lasted for eight days, by which time further oil had been found. The Menorah was subject to Roman plunder after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE; according to Josephus, it was displayed during the Roman triumphal march, the scene of which is famously depicted in a frieze on the Arch of Titus along with other spoils of the destroyed temple. For centuries, the Menorah and the other temple treasures were displayed as war booty in the Templum Pacis in Rome or in the Imperial Palace and was still there when the city was sacked by the Vandals in 455 CE. Although the Menorah disappeared and the Talmud forbade its reconstruction, it became a popular symbol signifying Judaism. Representations of the Menorah often decorated tombs, walls, floors of synagogues and amulets.

Modelled in the half-round in openwork as a nude putto leaning on a club resting on the base of a column, undulating detail to base; pin-lug to foot, notched catch above. 14.9 grams, 36 mm



Ex Cambridge, UK, collection, 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

With 'swan-neck' junction; facetted, round-section tapering shank; shallow bowl shaped like a flask in profile. 19.7 grams, 17.5 cm



Property of a Bedfordshire, UK, private collector. Accompanied by an illustrated collector's identification tag. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

The spoon's shaft tapers to a point; it was used for extracting seafood or snails from their shells. Spoons executed in precious metals were highly valued items in this period in history, so much so that historians and classicists see them recorded in inventories compiled for noble households. Cochlearia like this one have even been discovered in treasure hoards. The absence of Christian symbolism or of a Christian inscription on this spoon might suggest that it dates from a pre-Christian era, or that its owner/commissioner was pagan.