Roman Glass Candlestick Unguentarium

With a D-section hoop and octagonal bezel with a fylfot within a quatrefoil. 4.32 grams, 22.84 mm overall, 17.44 mm internal diameter (approximate size British O, USA 7, Europe 14.98, Japan 14)



Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Each rectangular with raised upper lip and a raised decorative frieze with rosettes and a bull's head (bucranium) separated by triple pilasters. 76.2 kg total, 76.5 cm each



with Georges Joseph Demotte (1877-1923) and Andrée Macé (1918-2000), Belgium and New York. Collection Demotte/Andrée Macé; Jean-Claude Renard Auction, Suresnes, 3 September 2013, no.87. with Galerie Chenel, Paris, 2021. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12624-236336. 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.

In classical Rome bovine skulls decorated the friezes of entablatures. Often, they were positioned in the metopes of Doric entablatures, but also in Ionic and Corinthian friezes, sometimes connected by floral or drapery swags. The architectural term for these skulls is bucranium (pl. bucrania or bucranes), a word derived from the Latin bos, meaning ox or cow, and cranium, the Medieval Latin term for a skull. The skulls allude to the ancient Greek and Roman ceremonies of sacrifice.

Shallow in profile with basal ring, iridescent surface, applied collar below the rim. 31.9 grams, 79 mm



From an important London collection of glass, 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.