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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]
ProvenanceAcquired 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.
FootnotesThe 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).
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Roman Tragic Mask Applique
1st century A.D. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £130
A rectangular slate mount showing the head of a tragic mask with angular eyes, straight nose and a clownish, down-turned mouth. 3 grams, 16.2 mm
Very fine condition.
Acquired from Galerie Jean Phillipe Mariaud de Serres, 1990-2000. Property of a French collector.
Small appliqués like this one were common in Roman furniture. In the Graeco-Roman world, comic and tragic masks played an important role in Greek drama, commonly performed in the Roman Empire. The actors had the ability to easily play more than one character in succession with a simple change of masks, and the characters of the masks became popular objects in the material culture.
