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LOT 0580
Roman Glass Amphora
1ST-3RD CENTURY A.D.
3 3/4 in. (31 grams, 97 mm high).
Pale green colour with broad rounded shoulder tapering to a rounded base, cylindrical neck and everted rim, applied scrolling handles; iridescent surfaces.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
Cf. Lightfoot, C.S., Ancient Glass in the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2007, item 307; Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession numbers 81.10.171 and 199318, for other Roman glass amphoras.
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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Roman Bronze Amphora
1st-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £208
With carinated profile to the shoulder and tapering neck, two riveted strap handles. 169 grams, 13 cm
Ex old English collection. London art market, 1980s. -
Roman Redware Sherd with Warriors from the Trojan Cycle
4th-5th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Displaying an possibly unfinished scene composed of robed warriors or other figures wearing Phrygian caps, wide tunics with segmenta, oriental trousers (anaxyrida) and tugging on a rope; later attachment loop to the reverse. 163 grams, 10.1 cm
Acquired 1960s-1990s. From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.
The scene probably represents an episode of the Trojan cycle, with the Trojans (usually represented in Late Antiquity with a Phrygian cap, wide sleeved tunics and Persian-style trousers) dragging the wooden horse inside the walls of Troy. In the late Roman Empire the Trojan cycle became often the subject of artistic representations, such as the famous Ilias Ambrosiana now preserved in Milan, or the miniatures of the Vergilius Romanus. -
Large Roman Bronze Mythical Cockerel-Headed Snake
4th century A.D.Estimate: £500 - 700 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £278
The upper body, neck and head of a mythical basilisk, modelled in the round with the body of a serpent and head of a cockerel, the body with a tapering round-section profile, stylised detailing to the head. 260 grams, 88 mm
‘The Ancient Menagerie Collection’ formerly the property of a Cambridgeshire lady, collected since the 1990s and acquired from auctions and dealers throughout Europe and the USA, now ex London collection.
The basilisk was a Graeco-Roman mythical two-legged dragon or serpent-like creature with a cock's head. It had the reputed ability to kill people by either looking at them, touching them, or sometimes breathing on them. According to legend a basilisk would die instantly upon hearing a rooster crow or looking at itself in a mirror.
