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LOT 0659
Roman Gilt Bronze Phalera with Theseus and the Minotaur
2ND CENTURY B.C.- 2ND CENTURY A.D.
2 in. (32 grams, 49 mm).
Domed roundel with high-relief design of combat between a bearded hero and a monster, wreath and rosettes to the rim.
ProvenanceFound near Sedgeford, Norfolk, UK, in the 1980s.
Acquired in the late 1990s.
Property of a Norfolk, UK, collector.
Cf. for surviving examples of this type of medallions or phalerae, often with an animal, compare various examples in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, inv. nos. 31630 and Fr. 1552 g 6-8; Babelon, E., and Blanchet, J.-A., Catalogue des bronzes antiques de la Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, 1895, nos.12-13, 55, 65-66, 110, 132, 178, 193, 214, 264, 316-17, 359-60, 369, and 445; nos. 25, 28, 120, 143-44, 253, 301, 400, 434, 491, 622, 712, 715, 827, 844, and 1022.
FootnotesAccording to the legend, Theseus, prince of Athens, went to the island of Crete to kill a monster who was the son of queen Pasifae and a wild bull, although officially he was the son of Minos and Pasiphae. Theseus chased him into the labyrinth, killed him and found his way out with the help of the comb of Ariadne, daughter of King Minos. The myth has its representation in the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic period, and was widely depicted in the Graeco-Roman world. The present repoussé appliqué was probably used as a furniture or horse harness ornament.
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LOT 0659
Roman Gilt Bronze Phalera with Theseus and the Minotaur
Estimate £200 - 300€230 - 350 (for guidance only)$270 - 410 (for guidance only)
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A reused tablet with a recessed panel on one side, the last tablet of a legal document which consisted of two (diptychon) or three tablets (triptychon); ten black inked lines of New Roman cursive script, the end of a record of a transaction in a highly formulaic legal language, confirmed between heirs and elders (heredes et seniores), negotiated on an estate called Rascotiano; one edge irregular, pierced for addition of a thong or string. 23.7 grams, 12.3 x 12.5 cm
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The contract follows standard Roman legal formulae. -
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