Large Roman Bronze Standing Cockerel Statuette

Comprising various figures and mounts including: a sheep, a fly, a peacock, an anthropomorphic head, a mount with a lying feline and a crouching figure. 94 grams total, 18-40 mm



Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a Ruislip, UK, gentleman, by inheritance.

In the art of late antiquity and early Christianity, during the Christian Middle Ages to the present, peacock held a prominent place, not only as a decorative motif, but also as a distinctive emblematic and symbolic sign. Its image was usually combined with a kantharos or a tree of life. Individually or in pairs, it was usually represented on places which were the ones closest to the holiest part of churches (altar’s parapet wall panels). Votive statuettes were brought in the church by the believers.

The goddess seen from behind, drapery around her legs, resting her left hand on a column and holding up an object in her right hand. 0.84 grams, 12 mm



Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection.

The famous statue of Aphrodite Kallipygos, the model for this gemstone, recalls a story reported in the Deipnosophists of Athenaeus regarding the foundation of a temple to her in ancient Syracuse. According to Athenaeus, two beautiful sisters from a farm near Syracuse quarrelled over which of them had the most shapely buttocks, and approached a young passer-by to judge. They showed themselves to the traveller, the son of a rich man, and he voted for the older sister. Later, he fell in love with her and fell ill with lovesickness. Upon learning of what had happened, the man's younger brother went to see the girls and fell in love with the younger sister. Consequently the brothers refused to consider any other brides forcing the father to arrange for the sisters to come and marry them. The townspeople nicknamed the sisters ‘Kallipygoi’ (‘Women with Beautiful Behinds’) and the young men, with their newfound prosperity, dedicated a temple to Aphrodite, naming her ‘Kallipygos’.

Modelled naturalistically in the round in an advancing pose with face, muzzle and tooth detailing within the open mouth, the tufts of the animal's mature mane individually rendered; filling hole on the back; the mouth open acting as a spout; North African workmanship; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 1.5 kg total, 20.5 cm high including stand



with Sotheby’s London, 9 December 1994, lot 221. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. Accompanied by copies of relevant Sotheby's catalogue pages. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11797-206532.

The lion was famously featured in many ancient myths, perhaps the most famous being that of Hercules (Herakles) slaying the Nemean lion for his first labour, but it was also linked with the cult of the goddess Cybele, where it is usually represented sculptured in relief on either side of her throne.