Medieval Lead Trade Weight with Three Lions of England

Comprising: the larger rectangular panel with reserved trefoil-headed blind arches, foliage in the spandrels; smaller panel with blind lancet arches and 'rose-window' roundels; smaller panel cracked. 4.02 kg total, 46-50.5 cm



Acquired from various UK auction houses. Ex Kent collection. Private collection, London, UK. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

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.

Including heater-shaped, conical, pyramidal and other types. 1.74 kg total, 16-67 mm



Found Yorkshire, UK. From the private collection of Robin Sykes, Yorkshire, UK, formed since the late 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.