Roman Black Glass Bead Necklace String

Depicted seated with his feet resting on a low stool, left hand raised and once holding sceptre or a staff; a modius crown resting on his curly hair, decorated with three incised olive sprays; dressed in a chiton and a draped himation, with his sandal-clad feet showing from beneath the folds of his garments; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 233 grams total, 12 cm high excluding stand



Private collection, Florida, USA, 1980s. European private collection, acquired in 2002. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00019356. 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.12611-234679. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The facial features are of the bearded Hellenistic type, well known by the features of the seated cult statue from the Serapeum in Alexandria and the prototypes of a number of separated heads or busts which also survive in innumerable copies in all the corners of the Roman Empire. A statue made by the Hellenistic sculptor Bryaxis was the model for this statuette and the successive iconography.

Comprising: a fragment of a glass pendant with impressed image of an advancing lion, crescent moon above; a conical agate intaglio with a profile of theatre mask; an oval carnelian intaglio with a dove holding an olive branch; a jasper intaglio with standing Asclepius holding a snake-staff. 4.35 grams total, 10-17 mm



Norfolk family collection, 1940s-1960s; thence by descent. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Private portrait head of a beardless but aged man sculpted in provincial style to be full of character with pinched mouth and furrowed brow; the short hairstyle of the Late Republican Rome; nose abraded; socket to underside for mounting on the display stand. 25.75 kg total, 50 cm including stand



Private collection, Auvergne, France, 1970s. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate no.S00131545. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12477-228801. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

In view of the fact that visual conventions (i.e. the Julian hairstyle) developed in the capital reached the “Romanised” provinces with a certain time lag, this portrait head was probably created in the Late Republican or Early Imperial Period.