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Back to previous pageLOT 0116
Estimate
GBP (£) 500 - 700
EUR (€) 580 - 810
USD ($) 670 - 940
4TH CENTURY A.D.
3 1/2 in. (260 grams, 88 mm).
The upper body, neck and head of a mythical basilisk (cockatrice), modelled in the round with the body of a serpent and head of a cockerel, the body with a tapering round-section profile, stylised detailing to the head.
PROVENANCE:
‘The Ancient Menagerie Collection’ formerly the property of a Cambridgeshire lady, collected since the 1990s and acquired from auctions and dealers throughout Europe and the USA, now ex London collection.
LITERATURE:
Cf. Alexander, R.McN., 'The Evolution of the Basilisk' in Greece & Rome, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Oct., 1963), pp. 170-181, for discussion on it; cf. a possible head of Roman basilisk in Stupperich, R., ‘Antiken der Sammlung W.W.’ in Boreas, 12, 1989, pp.231-248, no.20.
FOOTNOTES:
The basilisk, known from the Renaissance onwards as a cockatrice, was a Graeco-Roman mythical two-legged dragon or serpent-like creature with a cock's head. It had the reputed ability to kill people by either looking at them, touching them, or sometimes breathing on them. According to legend a cockatrice would die instantly upon hearing a rooster crow, and having a cockatrice looking at itself in a mirror was one of the few sure ways to kill it.
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