Roman Bronze Gladiator Figure

Penannular in form with opposed serpent-head finials, pointillé detailing. 1.65 grams, 20.61 mm overall, 18.01 mm internal diameter (approximate size British L 1/2, USA 6, Europe 11.87, Japan 11)



Acquired on the London art market in the late 1980s-1990s. From the family collection of an East London, UK, gentleman. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The edge of a diploma with eight partial lines of text to one side, and six partial lines to the other side; the restored text to the point of textual overlap between obverse and reverse; full stop is used for subscript dot: remains of letter with uncertain reading: Tabella I extrinsecus (obverse): [imp(erator) caes(ar) divi hadriani f(ilius) divi traiani] [part(hici) nepos divi ne]RVA.[e pron(epos) t(itus) aelius] [hadrianus anto]NINVS AVG(ustus) PIVS [pont(ifex) max(imus) trib(unicia) pot(estate) xx i]MP(erator) II CO(n)S(ul) IIII P(ater) P(atriae) [equitib(us) et peditib(us) q]VI MILIT(averunt) IN ALIS [ii quae appell(antur) i claudia] N.OVA MISCELL(anea) [et i gallor(um) flaviana et c]OHORT(ibus) X [v gallor(um) et pannonior(um) et v hisp]ANOR(um) [et i montanor(um) et i antioch(ensium) sagit]T.AR(iorum)1 [et i cretum sagittar(ia) et III campestr(is) c(ivium)] R(omanorum) et ii gallor(um) macedon(ica) et iii britton(um) vet(eranorum) et i aug(usta) lusitanor(um) et i pannonior(um) vet(eranorum) et sunt in moesia sup(eriore)] etc Tabella I intus (reverse): [... et sunt in moesia superior(e) sub] [c]VRTIO. [iusto leg(ato) xxv stip(endis) emer(itis) dimis(sis)] [h]ON(esta) M.[ission(e) quor(um) nomina subscr(ipta)] SVNT C.[ivit(atem) Roman(am) qui eor(um) non haber(ent)] [d]EDIT ET [conub(ium) cum uxorib(us)] [qu]A{s=B} {t=I}VN[c habuis(sent) cum est civit(as) is dat(a) aut cum is] Q.VA{s=C} POST(ea) [duxiss(ent) dumtax(at) singulis] etc on tabella II intus. 7.33 grams, 42 mm



Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a gentleman collector. Accompanied by a copy of an illustrated transliteration report by Dr Ittai Gradel. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Text reconstruction following Eck-Pangerl, ‘Moesia und seine Truppen. Neue Diplome für Moesia und Moesia Superior’, Chiron 38 (2008), 369-77 – all these fragments naming Curtius Iustus go back to a constitutio dated 23. April 157 (see Eck-Pangerl for discussion: they list nine copies, including a complete one; this is the second largest number known of any constitutio; yet another – the tenth - copy published by Eck-MacDonald-Pangerl in ZPE 165 (2008), 237-9).

Composed of mainly oblate and annular beads; restrung. 8.52 grams, 48 cm



From the London, UK, art market in the 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

In the Roman period there was a strong formal and chromatic diversity of glass beads used for necklaces and bracelets. The most common beads in forms were small biconical (lenticular), barrel-shaped, spherical and annular; the most common colours were dark blue, followed by green and yellow. The succession of glass beads often imitates jewellery made of costly materials (gold, silver, semi-precious and precious stones). Green, blue-green, blue, yellow, and black drawn and rounded glass beads (like here) are late Roman types.