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_900x900.jpg "Roman Bronze Candelabrum Base with Dolphins")
_200x200.jpg "Roman Bronze Candelabrum Base with Dolphins")
.jpg "Roman Bronze Candelabrum Base with Dolphins")
LOT 0128
Roman Bronze Candelabrum Base with Dolphins
1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
7 3/4 in. (980 grams, 19.5 cm).
Tripod form with splayed legs, feet formed as scallops and legs as sinuous dolphins, scallops between the tails; central column with fixing spike.
ProvenanceEx old English collection.
London art market, 1980s.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11890-207744.
Cf. similar in the collection of the British Museum under accession no.OA.873.
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AUCTIONS:
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Roman Baked Clay Slingshot Group
1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £572
Comprising three lentoid-section glandes. 167 grams total, 50-65 mm
Ex Simmons Gallery, London E11, UK, in the 1990s. From a North London collection.
The trio finds parallels with examples unearthed at Ham Hill, Somerset, UK. The sling (funda) with its lead missiles (plumbea pondera) was used by special funditores, illustrated on Trajan’s Column where they are simply dressed in broad tunics with no armour, but carry a shield. Their cloak, or sagulum acted as an ammunition bag. The effectiveness of the slingers was unquestionable and much appreciated, especially against elephants. Celsus, writing towards the end of the 2nd century A.D., described how a slingshot wound was more dangerous and harder to treat than one inflicted by an arrow. -
Roman Chalcedony Gemstone with Aphrodite Kallipygos
1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £910
The goddess seen from behind, drapery around her legs, resting her left hand on a column and holding up an object in her right hand. 0.84 grams, 12 mm
Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection.
The famous statue of Aphrodite Kallipygos, the model for this gemstone, recalls a story reported in the Deipnosophists of Athenaeus regarding the foundation of a temple to her in ancient Syracuse. According to Athenaeus, two beautiful sisters from a farm near Syracuse quarrelled over which of them had the most shapely buttocks, and approached a young passer-by to judge. They showed themselves to the traveller, the son of a rich man, and he voted for the older sister. Later, he fell in love with her and fell ill with lovesickness. Upon learning of what had happened, the man's younger brother went to see the girls and fell in love with the younger sister. Consequently the brothers refused to consider any other brides forcing the father to arrange for the sisters to come and marry them. The townspeople nicknamed the sisters ‘Kallipygoi’ (‘Women with Beautiful Behinds’) and the young men, with their newfound prosperity, dedicated a temple to Aphrodite, naming her ‘Kallipygos’. -
Roman Glass Vessel Collection
1st-4th century A.D. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £286
Comprising various types including bottles and flasks in blue and pale green. 32 grams total, 21-57 mm
Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016.
