Roman Agate Bust of Artemis Gemstone

Restrung group of biconical, cylindrical and other beads. 8.8 grams, 31.5 cm



Ex London, UK, collection, 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Each with a hollow-formed crescentic hoop, piriform plaque with inset glass panel and granulated border, hollow-bulb cluster beneath with three applied piriform plaques and granule finial. 9.26 grams total, 37-38 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12393-226929. 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.

As a result of the expansion of the Roman Empire, jewellery became more and more elaborate in its designs and materials used, such as precious and semi-precious gemstones. This pair of earrings represent a highly baroque evolution of the boat-shaped type, already visible in Etruscan jewellery and certainly in Roman jewellery, as demonstrated by the excavations of Herculaneum. Using the body of the boat-shaped earrings, the late Imperial artist added decorative clusters and applications of pearled borders and precious stones, according to the taste of Eastern Hellenism rooted for centuries in the provinces of the Black Sea and Roman Asia.

The goddess of love rising from the sea, standing nude and bearing the weight on her right leg; her head turned to the right and looking down, finely worked facial detailing with marked eyelids and shallow pupils; the bountiful hair tied back in a low chignon with six long ringlets falling on her shoulders, wearing a diadem; a narrow sash wrapped around her back, holding one end pressed against her left breast and the coiled end held in her right hand; standing on a pedestal base. 281 grams total, 16.5 cm high including stand



Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12747-236332. 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.

The goddess is depicted in the act of girding her chest with a fascia, similar to the one illustrated in the famous mosaics of Piazza Armerina, where the band is worn together with a subligaculum that covers her lower parts. It is modelled after a real two-piece bath costume of the ancient Romans.