LOT 0737

Roman Auriga in Quadriga Redware Sherd

4TH CENTURY A.D.

3 1/2 in. (74 grams, 90 mm).

A redware ceramic fragment with moulded low-relief decoration of a victorious Auriga (chariot-driver) standing in his chariot with four rearing horses yoked to it; geometric detail to his tunic, a frond in his bent left arm and a whip in his raised right hand; incised bilinear lettering '-TA' to the left and 'PV- / TO[V?]-' to the right in Greek letters; modern mounting loop to the reverse. [No Reserve]

Acquired 1960s-1990s.
From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.

See Mordtmann, A., 'Das Denkmal des Porphyrius', in Mittheilungen des deutschen archäologischen Institutes, in Athen, vol. V, Athens, 1880, pp.295-308, for a detailed representation of the costume of the Auriga and the position of the victorious chariot driver; Vasiliev, A.A., 'The monument of Porphyrius in the hippodrome at Constantinople' in Dumbarton Oaks Papers Vol. 4, (1948), pp.27-49; for the style of pottery cf. Banck, A., Byzantine Art in the collections of the USSR, Leningrad-Moscow, 1966, fig.23, for a very similar pottery style.

The pottery fragment shows an image of a charioteer in the moment of victory, with his left hand carrying a palm branch. The iconography is visible in the monument of Porphyrios in Constantinople and the charioteers of the Baccano mosaics. The detailed representation of the Auriga shows the attributes of his work: he wears a close-fitting undershirt with sleeves (γυμναστικiον) and an ornamented sleeveless tunic over it, leaving the knees exposed as is typical for charioteers (αυριγαριον).