Indus Valley Style Terracotta Bull

Comprising: landscape with farm buildings, cows and horses; accompanied by a portrait, an impression of Rembrandt by Thomas Worlidge, printed 1757, torn. 11 grams total, 14.5 x 13.5 - 15.2 x 9.5 cm



Private collection, Suffolk, UK.

The 'portrait of a man' shows clearly the influence of Rembrandt's self-portrait studies, e.g. 'Self Portrait with Saskia' of 1636. The landscape scene resembles 'Landscape with Cottage' drawn in the 1650s.

Group of three love tokens, each a sixpence coin bent into a double-curved profile; one pierced and with initials to each face. 7.45 grams total, 20 mm each



Acquired on the UK art market. Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.

The custom of giving a bent coin as a love-token is known from the 17th century in England. The coins were usually smoothed to obliterate the monarch’s head and then bent twice; sometimes they were engraved with initials or symbols such as hearts or knots. If the sweetheart accepted the youth's advances, she kept the token; if not, she disposed of the coin. The tradition is referred to in the children's rhyme "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, he found a crooked sixpence on a crooked stile."

Including a ceramic portrait disc, shabti and other items; after the antique. 340 grams total, 4.9-14.5 cm



Acquired on the London, UK, art market in the 1990s. From a gentleman's private collection.