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_900x900.jpg "Roman and Other Gemstone Collection")
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LOT 1006
Roman and Other Gemstone Collection
2ND CENTURY A.D. AND LATER
3/8 - 5/8 in. (4.46 grams total, 10-17 mm).
Comprising mainly lentoid and plano-convex seals in carnelian, amethyst, and other materials with engraved intaglios including a stag, two human figures, huntsman with deer and other topics; each supplied with a museum-quality impression. [6, No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom the collection of a London antiquarian, formed since the 1980s.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
TimeLine is a leading auction house specialising in antiquities, ancient art, collectables, natural history, coins, medals, and books. Our auctions offer museums, collectors, historians, and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire unique and historically significant pieces.
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Late Roman Imperial Porphyry Fragment
4th-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,120
Formed as an irregular block with three possibly later polished sides, with the other three sides presenting a descending wall and two hollows carved in the upper and lower part; probably from an Imperial sarcophagus or monument; mounted on a custom-made stand. 10.55 kg, 31 cm including stand
Acquired from the private collection of a Somerset gentleman who was related to Sir Arthur Evans. From the private collection of a UK gentleman since before 2005.
For the Romans, porphyry was the Imperial marble par excellence, and from Constantine the Great until the end of the 5th century, but probably also later, it was used to create sarcophagi for the emperors and members of the Imperial families. This particular stone was connected with the Imperial family because of its red colour, recalling the violet and red shades of the purple (porphyra), the precious colour assigned only to emperors and their relatives. In Constantinople, a room of the Imperial palace was called Porphýra, located on one of the palace terraces overlooking the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus. It was perfectly square in shape with a pyramidal ceiling and was entirely covered in purple porphyry speckled with white dots: this was the room where the empresses gave birth to the heir of the Roman Empire, called Porphyrogénnētos, meaning ‘born in the purple room’. Porphyry was widely used for building churches in the Christian Empire, and Justinian exhausted the supplies from Egypt by building the Great Church of Hagia Sophia, where still today a great amount of this material can be seen. The impressive Imperial sarcophagi were kept in the Church of the Holy Apostles, as well as the great porphyry sarcophagus of Constantine the Great, of which only a small fragment survives today in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul. -
Roman Banded Agate Cameo of a Sleeping Dog
3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
With a cameo image of a lying dog curled to the right; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 0.72 grams, 12.7 mm
Private English collection, formed between the late 1970s and early 1990s. Private collection, London, UK. -
Romano-British Bronze Priapus Statuette
2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Modelled in the round, standing, wearing a paenula, his hands holding up the hem to support a pile of fruits on his erect penis. 14.1 grams, 40 mm
Found Lincolnshire, UK.
This is one of the most characteristic representations of Priapus: standing, with long, smooth hair. With his hands, he raises his tunic, revealing his phallus, a symbol of fertility and good luck, and carries the first fruits of the earth on the hem of his tunic.
