Roman Bronze Ring with Victory Motif

Rectangular with two supporting bars to the underside, extended loop above; enigmatic (Greek) letters to all faces. 63.7 grams, 33 mm



with Hotel des Ventes, Drouot, Paris, France. From the collection of Mr H. Naudy, Paris, France. Acquired at between 2004-2010. Property of a French collector.

This small counter-weight bears letters indicating numbers: on one of the short sides Α (1), Δ (4), Χ (600); on the other short side they worn and difficult to read; and on one of the longer sides Υ (400), φ (500). The other letters are challenging to read, but the object would have been used as unit of measure. Another possibility is that it belonged to a statuette of a man holding a codex ansatus (box with a handle for carrying writing tablets).

Modelled in the round in kneeling pose with weight thrust forward, arms at the sides, bare-chested and wearing a short kilt with thick belt; the hair drawn up in the Swabian knot style above the right ear; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 80 grams total, 58 mm including stand



From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Statuettes of foreign ‘barbarian’ prisoners of this type have been found along the Danube. Their spread coincides with the Marcomannic wars of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The Swabian knot in this warrior’s hair has parallels with the warrior depicted on the contemporary Sarcophagus of Portonaccio, which represents a battle between Romans and Germanic Gauls.

With an elongated body and a long nozzle with a rounded tip; raised rim enclosing the upper face with an ivy lef-shaped filling hole; wide handle terminating to a female tragic mask with a palmette below the chin, the hair dressed in ringlets with two rows of curls to the brow, eyes inlaid with silver; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 1.97 kg, 28 cm wide (4.31 kg total, 27.5 cm high including stand)



Old private British collection, pre-1965. Property of a gentleman; acquired in the UK before 2000. Accompanied by a copy of an old black and white photograph and 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 a search certificate number no.12033-215424.

The lamp is of Loeschke type XX (Walters type 6), with many of these lamps made in Italy, but some are also found in the East. The tragic mask appears frequently on lamp handles, probably as an apotropaic subject. The mask was an inseparable element of unity with the past and religious context.