Roman 'Columbarium at Ostia' Terracotta Sepulchral Urn Lid

With portion of original matrix and five rows of tesserae in grey, black, cream and white. 213 grams, 79 mm



Acquired Tunisia, North Africa. From a pre World War II collection, thence by descent. Ian Wilkinson collection, Nottinghamshire, UK, formed since 1985.

In African mosaics, combinations of black and white and cream tessellated mosaics often form the borders of important mosaics, such as those of El Jem, representing the love between Satyrs and Bacchants, or the myth of Leda and the Swan.

Comprising a pair of discoid appliqués with beaded rim and high-relief pelta (military shield) motif, one with the pelta surmounted by a kantharos with a laurel wreath above, the other with vegetal volutes. 6.60 grams total, 61-62 mm



Acquired in the early 1990s. From the collection of a London antiquarian. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The subject represented on these two appliqués is a crescentic military shield, the so-called pelta, associated in the late Roman iconography with the Amazon female warriors. Many shields of this typology were also represented on the pedestal of the Column of Arcadius in Constantinople (circa 400 A.D.) and seemed to be associated with the heavy cavalry of the Imperial Guard (D’Amato-Negin, 2017, p.252).

Comprising six albums: a photo album with pictures from Calleva Atrebatum, Roman Silchester in Hampshire, England, showing categorised images of artefacts and displays from Reading museum with handwritten information labels, including mosaics, jewellery, beads, pottery, tiles and other artefacts; a photo album with images from Tullie House Museum showing pictures of oil lamps, oil lamps, pottery, some with handwritten information labels, also containing images from Colchester Castle Museum comprising images of pottery, Samian ware moulds, and other artefacts, and images from Wroxeter Roman city, pictures of six stones from the Roman camp at Old Penrith, pictures from Newcastle Museum, and from Great Witcombe villa in Gloucestershire; an album with postcards and printed information cards from Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort south of Hadrian's Wall showing life and costumes during Roman occupation; another album with photographs from Corbridge, a Roman town south of Hadrian's Wall, pictures taken at Aldborough Roman town, and pictures from Yorkshire Museum in York; an album containing black-and-white images of mainly Roman and Byzantine coins; a scrap book with labelled pictures and postcards from Chedworth Roman Villa, Chesters Roman Fort in Northumberland, Housesteads Roman Fort, antiquities in Chesters Museum, Hadrian's Wall area, Aesica (Great Chesters), Vindolanda, and miscellaneous pictures of historic places and artefacts. 12.9 kg total, 26.5 x 28.5 - 33.5 x 29 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.