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LOT 0693
Roman Bronze Lion Patera Handle Fitting
2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.
3 3/8 in. (100 grams, 88 mm).
Displaying a naturalistic lion's head projecting from a facetted bar with piercing for attachment; recessed eyes to accept separate inserts.
Provenance‘The Ancient Menagerie Collection’ formerly the property of a Cambridgeshire lady, collected since the 1990s and acquired from auctions and dealers throughout Europe and the USA, now ex London collection.
LiteratureCf. Christies, London, A Peaceable Kingdom: The Leo Mildenberg Collection of Ancient Animals, 26th-27th October, 2004, 216, for a bear's head of similar style.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0693
Roman Bronze Lion Patera Handle Fitting
Estimate £800 - 1,000€930 - 1,160 (for guidance only)$1,080 - 1,350 (for guidance only)
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Roman Carnelian Gemstone with Eros Harassing a Bird in a Tree
1st-3rd century A.D.Estimate: £600 - 800 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £333
The oval intaglio engraved with nude Eros, holding a fowling-rod, approaching a tree with a bird, a line marking the ground. 0.56 grams, 14 mm
Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection.
Doves are a typical attribute of Aphrodite, and real birds were often given to women as love-tokens; this bezel was possibly destined to a ring used for this purpose. At the same time, the presence of Eros was presumably intended to enhance the wearer’s personal allure. -
Roman Black Onyx Gemstone with Oxen
1st-2nd century A.D.Estimate: £500 - 700 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £278
Engraved with two bulls lying side by side, one with the head in profile, the other facing, tree to the field. 0.62 grams, 11 mm
Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection.
The iconography of two bulls derives already from Achaean models, like the black onyx example in the Metropolitan Museum (Richter, 1920, pl.2,no.3). The model was inherited by the classical world, and inherited from the Greeks by the Romans (Furtwängler mentions gemstones in carnelian, nos.5547-5548-5549 at the Berlin Museum). -
Roman Silver Sitting Mouse Statuette
1st-4th century A.D.Estimate: £250 - 350 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £139
Modelled in the round with naturalistic detailing, feeding on a nut held between its front paws, sitting on a sub-rectangular base. 7.49 grams, 21 mm
‘The Ancient Menagerie Collection’ formerly the property of a Cambridgeshire lady, collected since the 1990s and acquired from auctions and dealers throughout Europe and the USA, now ex London collection.
