Large Roman Military Seal Ring with Bird

Comprising: a piriform lamp with birds and geometric motifs, low basal ring; a piriform lamp with raised pellets and other motifs; a rounded lamp with short nozzle, low-relief leaves and ring-and-dot motifs within geometric border, a hatched rectangle behind the nozzle, a palm branch underneath the nozzle flanked by crescentic lines and ring-and-dot motifs, raised nipple to base. 190 grams total, 78-90 mm



with Galerie Rhéa, Zurich, Switzerland. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Terracotta disc with Maximian (280-305 A.D.) coin impression to each face from which to cast counterfeit coins. 4.61 grams, 27 mm



From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Blue glass disc with white glass past overlay imitating onyx, showing the nurturing of baby Dionysos, raised by nymphs on Mount Nysa: the infant god standing on the lap of a nymph, another standing right, Silenus standing left and leaning in on the scene, a tree in the background; set into a later gold setting with applied wire scrolls and tendrils on the sides with an applied filigree band below, wide loop above fronted by an applied decorative plaque set with a garnet cabochon. 21.36 grams, 48 mm



Private collection of a London gentleman, acquired between 1965-2020. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Ittai Gradel. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12680-235465. 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.

Dr Ittai Gradel writes: 'Cameos with Dionysiac motifs were especially popular in the mid- to later first century BC, and the prolific workshop of the gem carver Sostratos specialized in such motifs (see I. Gradel, ‘A tale of two fragments: a Sostratos cameo reconstructed’, The Burlington Magazine 162 (March 2020), 181-87). The original, lost stone cameo, from which this glass version was cast, belongs in this period and ambience. The glass cast was presumably contemporary with the original cameo, possibly slightly later, but the glass is in any case clearly ancient (corrosion, iridescence).'