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LOT 0869
Roman Gemstone Collection
1ST-3RD CENTURY A.D.
1/4 - 1/2 in. (2.9 grams total, 9-13 mm).
Including profile bust, advancing lion, two fish and other types; each supplied with a museum-quality impression. [6]
ProvenanceFrom the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.
LiteratureCf. Kaić, I., ‘Engraved gems as part of the Augustan Propaganda. Some examples from Croatia’ in Milićević Bradač, M., Demicheli, D., The century of the brave, Roman conquest and indigenous resistance in Illyricum during the time of Augustus and his heirs, proceedings of the international conference Zagreb, 22-26,9,2014, Zagreb, 2018, figs.5,8, for similar.
FootnotesOne of the rings, representing a seahorse with a trident swimming beside a dolphin, could be connected with the Legio X Fretensis, whose symbol was Neptune and the dolphin, adopted after the battle of Actium.
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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LOT 0869
Roman Gemstone Collection
Estimate £350 - 450€410 - 520 (for guidance only)$470 - 610 (for guidance only)
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Roman Marble Head of a Woman
3rd-4th century A.D.Estimate: £5,000 - 7,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,400
Carved in three-quarter view, with hair dressed in a chignon with frontal band and wavy segments; soft facial features with much detailing remaining to the proper right eye and mouth; likely a frieze fragment; mounted on an old collector's display stand with typed label 'Marble, woman's head / Egypt / C.25-100 A.D. / Cat.No. 6169'. 8.45 kg, 39 cm high
Acquired in trade from the San Franciscanum Museum, Israel, prior to 1980. with Archaeologia, pre 1983, Switzerland and Canada. 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.12964-242755.
The arrangement of the hair is characteristic of female portraits dating between the late Severan and Tetrarchic periods. The head, due to the treatment of the hair, finds comparisons with a female portrait in the Museo Nazionale Romano, depicting an elderly woman of the Antonine era, and with another female portrait in the same museum, dated to the third decade of the 3rd century A.D., reworked in the Tetrarchic period, and which showed a Severan so-called Nest Frisur hairstyle. The sculpture in question can therefore be dated between the full 3rd century A.D. and the first decades of the 4th century A.D. based on the hairstyle, the shape of eyes and eyebrows. -
Roman Bronze Ring with Lion
3rd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Featuring a flat-section hoop and an oval bezel with a standing lion. 1.13 grams, 17.18 mm overall, 16.46 mm internal diameter (approximate size British J 1/2, USA 5, Europe 9.32, Japan 9)
From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s. -
Roman Gold Hoop Earring Pair
1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £195
Matched pair of hoop earrings formed of a round-section bar with a loop closure. 1.04 grams total, 15.7-15.8 mm
Ex H. Norri collection, Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire, UK, collected in the 1980s-1990s.
