Medieval Bronze Vesica-Shaped Seal Matrix with Agnus Dei

Comprising a D-section hoop and lentoid bezel with a stylised clenched fist on a hatched background. 11.22 grams, 25.84 mm overall, 19.92 mm internal diameter (approximate size British S, USA 9, Europe 20, Japan 19)



Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Circular die with a central four-leaved plant paris quadrifolia, surrounded by a French inscription reading: '*LEL AMI AVET' for 'you have a loyal (or faithful) love'. 5.28 grams, 17 mm



Found Fairstead, Braintree, Essex, UK. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.ESS-F0F3AA. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Dr Malcolm Jones notes: 'This common device and associated inscription need to be understood in the context of the imagery and conventions of amour courtois/Courtly Love. Certainly, ami literally means ‘friend’, but in this context it means ‘love, lover, beloved’ – so the legend means “you have a loyal/faithful love”. Furthermore this quatrefoil is no ordinary stylised flower. In medieval English the four-leaved plant paris quadrifolia was known as the truelove. Two 15th-century English wills include the bequest of rings in the shape of a truelove: an anulum argenti operatum cum uno trewlove (silver ring fashioned with a truelove) in 1407, and unum anulum argenti et deauratum cum uno trew lofe (a silver and silver-gilt ring with a truelove) in 1464.

Modelled with a threatening expression, his half-open mouth visibly contracted into an evil grin with exposed teeth, short beard to the chin and wavy locks of hair resting on the forehead with two small horns, large goat horns framing the face on both sides; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 8.4 kg total, 30.5 cm high including stand



From a collection acquired on the UK art market. Property of a West Midlands, UK, private collector. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

From the Romanesque era onwards, images of demons, often carved on the external sides of cathedrals and churches, were strongly linked to the fantastical and monstrous creatures of ancient myth and legend. For theologians, supernatural creatures which could not otherwise be explained were not of God and therefore had to be demonic: their incorporation in the ecclesiastic structures showed that their malevolent powers could be kept under control only through the protection of the church. This origin of Christian demons is likely to have influenced the visual representation in medieval culture as hybrid and monstrous, especially given the increased interest in Greek works from the twelfth century onwards in the West.