Large Roman Aubergine Glass Jug

D-shaped plaque with bust modelled in the round with openwork foliage to the border. 18.79 grams, 32 mm



UK private collection, acquired in New York in the 1980s. 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.

Discoid in plan with repoussé sheet-bronze cover on a bronze disc; facing image of two goddesses holding cornucopiae (Fortuna and Isis) flanking an altar, on a baseline. 7.5 grams, 23 mm



Acquired in 1993. Private collection, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

There are reliefs and paintings from across the Empire showing religious processions involving cult statues of the two goddesses. The famous Roman novel 'The Golden Ass' by Lucius Apuleius provides literary evidence of such processions in honour of the goddess Isis. The statue of the goddess was taken from the temple and processed through the streets with great pomp and ceremony on an elaborate bier or cart by the priests and devotees to the accompaniment of music and prayers.

Sturdy rectangular-section body with circular openings on the body and finials, the body divided into segments with transverse lines, dense punched point decoration to the sides and upper face. 44 grams, 64 mm



Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.