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LOT 0076
Roman Bronze Musical Flute
CIRCA 2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.
9 in. (87 grams, 23 cm).
An extremely rare aulos or tibia with round-section body, six circular holes to one side and a D-shaped hole to the reverse.
ProvenanceFrom the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister; from her collection formed early 1960s-1990s.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11055-184396.
See Daremberg, C.V. & Saglio, E. (eds.), Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines, Paris, 1873-1917, fig.6965; see a cast of the Roman flute from Pompeii, in the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures (inventory 1916.07.0011); Wardle, M.A., Musical Instruments in the Roman World, London, 1981, for iconography (pp.35ff., 115ff. and especially pl.22), and original specimens from Pompeii, pls.1-2; the closest parallel in Palagyi, T., Facsady, A., Romains de Hongrie, Lyon, 2002, p.117, fig.259 (bronze tibia from Pannonia, Savaria, today Szombathely).
FootnotesThe flute was used for religious ceremonies and for entertainment. The pyrrhic, a war dance of Doric origin, was a rapid dance to the double flute, and made to resemble an action in battle.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0076
Roman Bronze Musical Flute
Estimate £6,000 - 8,000€6,960 - 9,280 (for guidance only)$8,100 - 10,800 (for guidance only)
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Large Roman Bronze Basilisk
4th century A.D.Estimate: £500 - 700 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £278
The upper body, neck and head of a mythical basilisk (cockatrice), modelled in the round with the body of a serpent and head of a cockerel, the body with a tapering round-section profile, stylised detailing to the head. 260 grams, 88 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.
The basilisk, known from the Renaissance onwards as a cockatrice, was a Graeco-Roman mythical two-legged dragon or serpent-like creature with a cock's head. It had the reputed ability to kill people by either looking at them, touching them, or sometimes breathing on them. According to legend a cockatrice would die instantly upon hearing a rooster crow, and having a cockatrice looking at itself in a mirror was one of the few sure ways to kill it. -
Roman Bronze Situla
1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £182
Comprising a bell-shaped bowl, everted rim, shallow foot and round-section articulate handle; split, base absent. 560 grams, 20 cm wide
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.
Situla (plural situlae), from the Latin word for bucket or pail, is the term in archaeology and art history for a variety of elaborate bucket-shaped vessels from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages, usually with a handle at the top. Roman styles favoured a simple shape curving from the base, becoming vertical at the top, with a wide mouth and no shoulder, but sometimes with a projecting rim. These had a variety of uses, including aiding with washing and bathing. -
Eastern Roman Marble Tray
3rd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
Of shallow rectangular form with volute handles, restored. 1.24 kg, 26 cm wide
Acquired 1960s-1990s. Late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.