Late Roman Terracotta Slipper Oil Lamp

Comprising three keys with looped terminals, one for a barrel lock. 67.66 grams total, 42-62 mm



Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.

Plano-convex type with incuse image of a horseman on rearing steed, plunging a spear into a coiled serpent; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 0.43 grams, 10 mm



Private English collection, formed between the late 1970s and early 1990s. Private collection, London, UK.

The image is a precursor of the later iconography of military saints killing the dragon.

Well preserved rectangular tablet made of cedar wood with a recessed panel to the inner face, the outer face flat and not inscribed; the second and last tablet of a Roman sales contract; the inner face inscribed in Roman cursive script using ink and calamus, fourteen lines of Roman cursive script written within the recess; two small holes both near the upper and lower rim (for binding the tablets of this document together); the text consists of dispositions regarding the sale of a special category of land (gemiones) and ends with the obligatory stipulatio formula: 'stipulata est Macrinia B., spopondidit Iulius L. – Macrinia B. stipulated, Iulius L. (as the vendor) gave the counter promise'. 44.3 grams, 15.6 x 14.1 cm



Acquired by Albert Sfez in the early 1950s. Formerly the property of Monsieur Alain Sfez, a Belgian collector; acquired by gift from his father, Albert Sfez, in 1965. Acquired by a London dealer in 1973. From an important London collection since 1975; thence by descent. Accompanied by a copy of an illustrated academic report by Professor Dr phil. Peter Rothenhöfer.