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Home > Auctions > 26th November 2024 > Late Roman Gold in Glass Medallion with a Portrait of Imperial Magistrate and His Family

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LOT 0157

Estimate
GBP (£) 40,000 - 60,000
EUR (€) 47,950 - 71,930
USD ($) 50,970 - 76,460

Opening Bid
£20,000 (EUR 23,977; USD 25,485) (+bp*)

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Bids: 0
LATE ROMAN GOLD IN GLASS MEDALLION WITH A PORTRAIT OF IMPERIAL MAGISTRATE AND HIS FAMILY
MID 4TH CENTURY A.D.
2 5/8 in. (25.8 grams, 67 mm).

The subject depicted with a serene face and short cut hair in Constantine Age fashion, dressed in a richly arranged toga picta or toga contabulata; the lady mirroring his expression with her hair arranged in a rich propoloma, her vestis talaris heavily embroidered; behind the couple a smaller figure of a child, dressed in a cloak; Latin inscriptions above the figures reading: 'NIMA VIVAS DVLCISA' (DVLCIS ANIMA VIVAS = Live, Sweet Soul).

PROVENANCE:
From a private family collection formed since the early 19th century, thence by descent.
Property of a New Zealand legal professional.

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 search certificate number no.12328-223717.

LITERATURE:
Cf. Demandt, A., Engemann, J., Imperator Caesar Flavius Constantinus - Konstantin der Grosse, Mainz, 2007, cat.II.1.127, p.292, for similar glasswork; Biscottini, P., Sena Chiesa, G., Costantino, 313 d.C., l’Editto di Milano e il tempo della tolleranza, Milano, 2012; D’Amato, R., Imperial Roman Naval Forces 31 BC-AD 500, London, 2009; cf. Houston, M.,Ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Costume and Decoration, London, 1977, figs.100,103,104,138, for the Late Antique costume here presented; for a similar female hairstyle and maniakion, cf. Bianchi Bandinelli, R., Roma, la fine dell'arte antica, Milano, 1970, fig.34.

FOOTNOTES:
The glass art was widespread in the late Roman Empire, and many artworks came from different glass workshops in Italy, Germany (Colonia Agrippina), in the Phoenician coasts or in Africa. Particularly sought-after were glasses and cups with decorated bases, which were obtained by means of thin gold leaves sandwiched between two layers of glass. Gilded glass of this type was made for religious (Biscottini, Sena Chiesa, 2012, fig.2, no.4, and cat.114-115, pp.230-231) or civil subjects, official (D’Amato, 2014, p.40) or funerary portraits. Our tondo could be of funerary nature, given the invocation to the soul (presumably of the child depicted in the background) to live forever. Our inscription should be read first from left to right, on the recto, 'DVLCIS A', and then again, on the verso, from left to right, 'NIMAVIVAS'. The inscriptions of such tondos often present abbreviated or reduced forms, like the presence of 'A' without the central hyphen and inverted letters, or the 'S' of 'VIVAS', here mirrored.

CONDITION