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LOT 1044
Roman Carnelian Gemstone Group
1ST-4TH CENTURY A.D.
3/8 - 1/2 in. (1.35 grams total, 9-13 mm).
Comprising three oval intaglios, one with etched crescent moon surrounded by five stars, one with standing Victory, and one with a profile bust. [3, No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.
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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Roman Terracotta Jug with Flared Rim
1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
With a bulbous body and trumpet-shaped neck, handle to the rear. 736 grams, 17.5 cm
Ex London art market 1990s. From a London, UK, collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato. -
Roman Face Artefact Collection
1st-3rd century A.D. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £182
Including ring bezel with glass insert, face bead, and other types. 21 grams total, 14-29 mm
with Archaeologia, Switzerland, before 1983. Ex private North American collection. London private collection, 2016. -
Late Roman Imperial Porphyry Fragment
4th-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,640
Formed as a parallelepiped with round corner having a possibly later polished side and the other three sides straight and round, with signs of carving; probably from an Imperial sarcophagus or monument; mounted on a custom-made stand. 9.85 kg total, 36.5 cm including stand
Acquired from the private collection of a Somerset gentleman who was related to Sir Arthur Evans. From the private collection of a UK gentleman since before 2005.
For the Romans, porphyry was the Imperial marble par excellence, and from Constantine the Great until the end of the 5th century, but probably also later, it was used to create sarcophagi for the emperors and members of the Imperial families. This particular stone was connected with the Imperial family because of its red colour, recalling the violet and red shades of the purple (porphyra), the precious colour assigned only to emperors and their relatives. In Constantinople, a room of the Imperial palace was called Porphýra, located on one of the palace terraces overlooking the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus. It was perfectly square in shape with a pyramidal ceiling and was entirely covered in purple porphyry speckled with white dots: this was the room where the empresses gave birth to the heir of the Roman Empire, called Porphyrogénnētos, meaning ‘born in the purple room’. Porphyry was widely used for building churches in the Christian Empire, and Justinian exhausted the supplies from Egypt by building the Great Church of Hagia Sophia, where still today a great amount of this material can be seen. The impressive Imperial sarcophagi were kept in the Church of the Holy Apostles, as well as the great porphyry sarcophagus of Constantine the Great, of which only a small fragment survives today in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul.
