Historic Spartan Basalt Cut and Polished Green Porphyry Fragment

13 in. (6.19 kg total, 33 cm including stand).

Cut and polished section, mined in Greece, cut and polished on one side, probably recycled material mined in ancient Roman times; mounted on a custom-made metal display stand.

Provenance

Acquired on the UK art market since the 1990s.
From the private collection of a Somerset gentleman.

Footnotes

Also known as Lapis Lacedaemonius and Porfido Verde Antico, a type of green porphyry quarried in Greece. Spartan basalt is a form of andesite or volcanic rock known today only from a single source in the village of Krokees on the Peloponnese in Greece. In addition, ancient sources mention a quarry of Lapis Lacedaemonius in Taygetus.

CONDITION

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LOT 0205