Medieval Bronze Round Seal Matrix with Sleeping Lion

Displaying a raised design to both faces: a four-petalled flower against a hatched field; a plant or heart on a mound; one remaining loop handle at the neck. 32.7 grams, 51 mm



Found Hampshire, UK.

Comprising a complete articulated snaffle-bit with openwork tongue-plate, an articulated curb-bit, and other items. 1.2 kg total, 23-32.5 cm



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.

Carved naturalistically in the round as a mature male figure with short wavy hair, full beard and moustache, his brow furrowed and mouth held slightly ajar; repaired. 3.8 kg, 18 cm



Acquired in Europe before 1996. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11809-206816.

The head was carved as an image of a saint, Apostle or a prophet. The accomplished and sophisticated style of carving on this head can be compared to some of the most celebrated Romanesque buildings of Southern France. The carving of the head resembles the representations of heads and faces of 12th century French Romanesque art, for example those of Saint Trophime in Arles. This imposing head once served as an important architectural part of a lavishly decorated church, possibly in western France. Its form and the size suggest that the head was not only decorative but that it would have been structurally important – perhaps part of a row of statues of apostles and prophet like those depicted on the Saint Trophime façade.