Roman Blue Glass Flask with Fine Trailing

Two fragments of redware bowl rim, the larger with handwritten label 'Roman / from the Poultry, London Dec.1928' and record card 'Fragment Decorated Samian Bowl. Found: The Poultry, London, Dec. 21. 1928'; the smaller with handwritten label ''Roman / the Poultry / Dec.21.1928'. 60 grams total, 58-65 mm



Found Poultry, London, UK, 1928. From the collection of a late East Anglian teacher and antiquarian who retired to the Isle of Wight in Hampshire, UK. He amassed a large collection of objects between the 1960s-1980s.

Decorated with stamped patterns including dolphins, gorgoneion, sphinx, floral patterns, motifs with ivy leaves and vertical columns dividing the field into panels. 33.2 kg, 1.72 m



Acquired 1970s-early 1990s. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016.

There were many ways of burying bodies during the Roman Empire. Although the majority were buried without coffins, there is evidence for wooden coffins, lead-framed wooden coffins, tile burials and lead and stone coffins. This item belongs to types widespread in the Eastern Mediterranean. The panel is decorated with a columned structure, and within each section are symbols of the outer-world, including gorgons, sphinx and dolphins. The sphinx, having a human head and breasts, legs and paws of a lion, and wings of a bird, was generally associated with protecting imperial tombs and temples. The roundels featuring the head of Medusa, known for her potent gazes that could turn one to stone, was favoured on sarcophagi and architectural ornaments because it was believed that her image would protect those within. The dolphin was considered to ferry the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Very often these sarcophagi were connected by a pipe to the ground above so that mourners could pour offerings into the grave.

Comprising a thick, elongated body with lateral testes, large suspension loop above. 12.2 grams, 33 mm



Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman.