Roman Dancing Satyr Gemstone

Discoid base supporting a seated youth with legs crossed wearing a chlamys, his left hand supporting fruit in the folds of the cloth and right hand holding one; base pierced; transverse wire to sides of the head, ring above. 366 grams, 80 mm



From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Depicted seated with his feet resting on a low stool, left hand raised and once holding sceptre or a staff; a modius crown resting on his curly hair, decorated with three incised olive sprays; dressed in a chiton and a draped himation, with his sandal-clad feet showing from beneath the folds of his garments; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 233 grams total, 12 cm high excluding stand



Private collection, Florida, USA, 1980s. European private collection, acquired in 2002. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00019356. Accompanied by 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 search certificate number no.12611-234679. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The facial features are of the bearded Hellenistic type, well known by the features of the seated cult statue from the Serapeum in Alexandria and the prototypes of a number of separated heads or busts which also survive in innumerable copies in all the corners of the Roman Empire. A statue made by the Hellenistic sculptor Bryaxis was the model for this statuette and the successive iconography.

A reused rectangular wax tablet with a shallow recessed panel to one face and thirteen lines of Roman cursive script; the text contains the end of testamentary instructions followed by the obligatory mancipatory formula which includes the ritual purchase of the entire property of the deceased (familia testamenti faciundi erga emit), with the "Libripens" (balance holder) being Bonatianus, and the first of the witnesses was Iulius Lovianus; in the last lines the testator's handwritten signature, after he had dictated his will to a friend; on the outer face two sulci, which were filled with wax into which the signet rings of the witnesses could be impressed, with traces of the signatures of witnesses; four small holes for attachment. 50 grams, 17.7 x 16.6 cm



Acquired by Albert Sfez in the early 1950s. Formerly the property of Monsieur Alain Sfez, a Belgium collector; acquired by gift from his father Albert Sfez, in 1965. Acquired by a London dealer in 1973. From an important London collection since 1975; thence by descent. Accompanied by a copy of a four page illustrated academic report by Professor Dr. phil. Peter Rothenhöfer. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12568-218137. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The contract follows standard Roman legal formulae.