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LOT 0115
Roman Bronze Statuette of Helios-Alexander
2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.
6 1/8 in. (583 grams total, 17.5 cm including stand).
The god standing nude on an ivy-leaf base in contrapposto pose with right arm extended and hand held palm-outwards; mantle pinned at the right shoulder and wrapped around the bent left arm; the head held erect with soft rounded facial features and luxuriant curls, diadem with radiating spikes representing beams of light; mounting stud to the reverse; mounted on a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom 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.
Exhibited at Harwich Museum, Harwich, Essex, UK, 14th March-9th June 2024; accompanied by a copy of a photograph of the artefact on display.
LiteratureCf. Durham, E., Metal Figurines in Roman Britain, vol. 2, Reading, 2010, pl.60, for a full-length figure from Lakenheath, England, with similar features; cf. also De Ridder, A., Les bronzes antiques du Louvre, 1, Les figurines, Paris, 1913, p.129, pl.62, no.1059, for identical.
FootnotesThe cult of Helios-Apollo intensified in the third century A.D. and the adoration of Sol Invictus, with the radiate crown, was often linked to that of Mithras, the god of legions, whose symbol was the bull. Under Emperor Aurelian, the Sol Invictus became the main god, protector of Rome and the Roman state.
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
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Roman Inked Wooden Legal Document Signed by Felicianus in Actum
Late 4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,800
A reused tablet with a recessed panel on one side, the lower part absent, on the upper rim one of originally 3 holes necessary for binding together of the tablets of the document, 5 lines in Roman cursive on the recessed panel containing the end of a the record of a legal document in a formulaic legal language; part of a legal document which consisted of two (diptychon) or three tablets (triptychon), with the indication where it was done (actum in …) followed by the so-called chirographum (signature line) of a person called Felicianus, letter forms point to a date in the second half of the 4th century AD; with a recessed slot to verso. 12.4 grams, 14.7 cm
From an important London collection since 1975. Accompanied by a collection of six 1970s photographs of the the tablet.
The contract follows standard Roman legal formulae. -
Roman Bronze Horse-Head Mount
2nd-3rd century A.D.Estimate: £1,200 - 1,700 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £600
Hollow-formed mount formed as a crescent with horse-head finial modelled with flying mane and mouth open; to the rear, a deep flared socket with dentilled rim. 106 grams, 63 mm
Acquired on the German art market, 1989-1995. with The Museum Gallery, 19 Bury Place, London, WC1A 2JB, 1998-2003. Property of a London based academic, 2003-present.
This is beautiful Roman workmanship, probably derived from Hellenistic prototypes, which finds comparisons in similar mounts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the British Museum. It could be a bed mount (for bed or triclinium) or a furniture element. It is also possible that it was a cart or chariot element. -
Roman Terracotta LEG I ITAL Legionary Stamped Tile
Late 1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £572
A rectangular block with stamped mark 'LEGT I ITAL' (Legio I Italica) for 1st Legion 'Italic'; with collector's label 'Roman brick made by the Ist Italica Legion at Olpia Oescus on the lower Danube, one of Trajan's strategic bases prior to the invasion of Dacia in 106 AD. LEG I ITAL' 4.35 kg, 19 cm
From the collection of a late East Anglian teacher and antiquarian who retired to the Isle of Wight in Hampshire, UK. He amassed a large collection of objects between the 1960s-1980s. Accompanied by a previous catalogue identification card.
The Legio I Italica ("of Italy") was a Roman legion formed by Nero on September 20, 66 or 67 AD and active until the 5th century AD. Its emblems were the boar and sometimes the bull. There are many sources which name army officials employed in supervision of the construction and reconstruction of temples, baths, city walls, towers and gates. CIL VIII 2728, for example, is a letter by evocatus Augusti who was sent to solve engineering problems on a badly surveyed aqueduct at Saldae in the province of Numidia. Pliny (Epistulae X 17b, 39, 41, 61) repeatedly requested an army architect to be sent from Lower Moesia to help inspect some Bithynian building projects. Therefore it is not strange that tiles marked as belonging to a legion should be found all over the provinces.
