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LOT 0733
Roman Bronze Animal-Headed Ladle
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
9 7/8 in. (147 grams, 25 cm).
With broad bowl featuring two spurs to the rim flanking the junction with the handle, carinated band below the rim, concentric rings to the base; flat-section handle with gussets to the edges and rear, hooked ibex-head finial.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
Cf. Tassinari, S., La Vaisselle de Bronze, Romaine et Provinciale, au Musée des Antiquités Nationales, XXIXe supplément de Gallia, Paris, 1975, items 40-3, for ladles with similar animal-head finials; cf. also Boucher, S., Inventaire des Collections Publiques Françaises - 17 Vienne: Bronzes Antiques, Paris, 1971, pp.168-169, for similar specimens.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0733
Roman Bronze Animal-Headed Ladle
Estimate £300 - 400€350 - 460 (for guidance only)$410 - 540 (for guidance only)
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Roman Bronze Spoon
1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Deep circular bowl and narrow handle with lobe finial. 31.6 grams, 15 cm
English collection, early 2000s. Ex central London gallery. -
Roman Bronze Bird Brooch
2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £390
Complete with pin and catchplate (chipped) to reverse; the bird advancing left with head turned backwards, tail modelled in the round, feather detailing to the wing, annular eye. 12.3 grams, 46 mm
Ex John Hayward collection, exhibited at Ipswich museum. -
Roman Danubian Lead Plaque with Sol Invictus
2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £124
Displaying a figural scene in relief showing the Dioscuri, wearing a crested helmet and raising the right arm in salutation; the bust of Sol wearing a radiate crown and the horned bust of moon surmounted by a crescent, border to the perimeter representing two snakes; the inner border with seven six-pointed stars, a large dolphin-like creature swimming to the right, to the left a group of round objects; to the right of the left hand rider, a three-legged offering table with three candle-sticks; between the sun and the moon a standing female deity dressed in peplos and chiton, facing right with her right arm raised in front of her; behind the moon a bird waddling to left; to the right of the left hand rider, a cockerel; beneath the horse’s hooves two prostrate figures lying face down, head to the right and left, the right figure with the left knee bent in supplication; at the centre, between the two horsemen, a standing female deity in long chiton (Helen of Troy); behind the right horse, a standing male figure facing left with his right hand raised in salutation, wearing a knee length tunica, short boots and a heavy cloak; on the lower margin a small prostrate figure with head to the right, limbs extended, a twin-handled wine cup, a standard surmounted by a lamp, a figure hanging head down from a stunted tree and a lion stalking left. 61 grams, 70 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
The plaque contains a complex iconography of divine figures and symbols, probably associated with Thracian or Dacian beliefs of the Lower Danube region, but also with the Greek myth of the divine twins Castor and Pollux (the Dioscuri), an important element of Roman religion since its origins, here mixed with the cult of the Danubian rider. Presiding over the whole scene is usually the Sol Invictus (the unconquered sun-god) and his sister the Moon (Selene).
