Roman Banded Agate Gemstone with Head of a Goddesss

Pierced longitudinally, the first side with a figure standing below a large tree (the god Hop?), the second with a tree and three animals, the third with an altar with two birds and a dancing pair of figures below, the fourth side with a dog, symbols above. 3.9 grams, 20 mm



From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.

Showing a New Comedy, 'Cook' type theatre mask with an open mouth; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 1.07 grams, 13 mm



Private English collection, formed between the late 1970s and early 1990s. Private collection, London, UK.

Miniature models of theatrical masks were mass-produced in the ancient world, and can be linked with the Dionysiac mysteries, in association with funeral rites, illustrating the Dionysiac thiasos, the orgiastic world of satyrs and maenads. However, they can also be miniature models of masks linked with highbrow Sophoclean and Euripidean tragedy, or with so-called Middle Comedy, which now only survives in fragments.

An irregular fragment from a large vessel with an angled shoulder and thickened rim, showing a low-relief leaping lion with its forelegs extended, jaws gaping, and its ears pulled back. 84 grams, 11.7 cm



Found near the village of Braughing in Hertfordshire, UK, in the early 1960s. By descent to the son of a late Hertfordshire gentleman collector, whose collection was formed from the 1960s.