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LOT 0766
Roman Artefact Group
CIRCA 1ST-5TH CENTURY A.D.
1 1/4 - 3 5/8 in. (150 grams total, 33-92 mm).
A trio of artefacts comprising: a Roman copper-alloy coin, likely a sestertius, with worn designs to obverse and reverse, the reverse likely portraying the goddess Minerva leaning on a shield and wearing a helmet; a stone loom weight of conoid form, dated c.100 A.D. and discovered in Egypt; a Roman ceramic oil lamp dated c.500 A.D., piriform in plan with raised borders to the central opening and nozzle, decorative ribbing to the shoulder, conical handle and basal ring. [3, No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom an old UK collection.
From the private collection of Alf Baxendale (1941-2016) part 2, keen Egyptologist, member of the Egyptology Society, trustee of the Amarna Trust; thence by descent.
Accompanied by a copy of his obituary published in Horizon, The Amarna Project and Amarna Trust newsletter, Issue 18, 2017, p.21, by Barry John Kemp, CBE, FBA, Professor Emeritus of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge and directing excavations at Amarna in Egypt.
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AUCTIONS:
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Roman Bronze Double-Axehead Pendant
1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Formed as a miniature labrys with pierced socket. 8.33 grams, 44 mm
From a private Netherlands collection; previously in an old collection since before 1980. -
Roman Marble Head of a Young Man
2nd-3rd century A.D.Estimate: £4,000 - 6,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,000
Worked in high-relief with hairstyle typical of the transitional period from the Consulate to the Empire; oval face with a prominent forehead, oval eyelids and clearly defined lines around the eyes; hair arranged in vertical lines combed back from the forehead; pronounced lips, typical rendering of the wide auricles; the lower part of the tunic visible with a well defined round edge around the neck; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 5.94 kg total, 22.5 cm high including stand
Acquired from Gallery Gryphos, Munich, 1992. European private collection. 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 number no.11996-211878.
The head was probably pertinent to a series of funerary family portraits. It has realistic modelling of male features, which speaks of a portrait in reduced dimensions or a reference to a well-known person in the environment where it was exhibited. The portrait is worked only on the front, leaving the back, as well as the lower part of the sculpture, roughly treated. -
Roman Bronze Statuette of Mercury
1st-2nd century A.D.Estimate: £5,000 - 7,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,750
Standing erect on a tiered socle base in contrapposto pose; pointillé-textured mantle draped to the left shoulder, left arm bent, hand holding a wand; right arm loose at the side, hand holding a patera; finely modelled face with short wavy hair; shallow dimple or socket to the crown; standing on a possibly later tiered disc base with square foot. 957 grams, 16 cm high
Acquired on the German art market, 1990s. Ex Cambridgeshire collection, UK. 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 number no.12013-213587.
Mercury was the god of trade and industry, whose principle shrine in the city of Rome was at the Circus Maximus. The draped mantle is typical of statuary of Mercury from the 1st-2nd century A.D. (Boucher, pl.40, 43) and the 'baton' may in fact be the stem of a caduceus (Boucher, pl.46 (211)).
