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LOT 0140
Roman Carnelian Gemstone with Horse and Cavalry Man
3RD-2ND CENTURY B.C.
3/8 in. (0.27 grams, 9 mm).
The rounded intaglio with a horseman, helmetted or wearing a causia, with flying cloak, riding towards left.
ProvenanceAcquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s.
Important North West London collection.
Cf. Walters, H.B., Catalogue of Engraved Gems & Cameos, Greek, Etruscan & Roman in the British Museum, London, 1926, no.1010, for similar.
FootnotesThe cap (kausia) was typical of Hellenistic military dress and had been worn by cavalrymen since Alexander’s campaigns of the 4th century BC. The gemstone could represent an Italic cavalrymen, a socius (ally) of the Roman army. Another possibility is that the gemstone follows Etruscan influence, like the example in the British Museum, accession no. 1872,0604.156. The kausia cap had also its metallic counterpart, worn by the Tarentine cavalrymen of the Hellenistic period.
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LOT 0140
Roman Carnelian Gemstone with Horse and Cavalry Man
Estimate £600 - 800€700 - 930 (for guidance only)$810 - 1,080 (for guidance only)
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Roman Polychrome Wall Painting Fragment with Winged Siren
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Decorated with a frieze of partially preserved acanthus volutes from which emerges a figure of a winged female, possibly a siren, the body and the head of a woman with brown hair, the outstretched wings in pink and yellow; ochre background, cream-coloured line border with a green raised edge (part of the wall) below; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 979 grams total, 16 cm high including stand
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This painted stucco was probably part of a decorative frame. Such decorations can be seen on the famous Villa of Oplontis, where the painted walls of the Triclinium nr. 14 have been divided thrice by columns with a sphinx as ornament on the top of the pillar, decorated with acanthus scrolls and sirens beneath the sphinxes. -
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Composing two opposed dragonesque figures with tail and lowered head, sitting on a peltate style cut out. 19.7 grams, 35 mm
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Belt appliques and decorations change notably during the centuries of the Roman Empire. In around 2nd-3rd centuries A.D., particularly in Pannonia and in Britain, show many very Celtic orientated fittings, maybe as the result of provincial influences within the army or production systems. -
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Found Cotham, Newark, Nottinghamshire, UK, in September 2021.
