Roman Glass Unguentarium

Lamp-work glass miniature ewer with applied strap handle. 4.19 grams, 29 mm



Acquired from Red House Antiques, York, UK, 2008. Ian Wilkinson collection, Nottinghamshire, UK.

Group of three terracotta fragments with impressed stamps '[..]NVAC', 'LEG.AVG' and one marked freehand '[..}LITOF[..]'. 1.46 kg total, 13-15.4 cm



Found UK. From the collection of a late East Anglian teacher and antiquarian who retired to the Isle of Wight in Hampshire, UK. He amassed a large collection of objects between the 1960s-1980s.

The bricks belonged to the famous Legio II Augusta, (Legio II Gallica Augusta Sabina Britannica Felix) which since the 43 A.D. until the 5th century A.D. were linked to Britain. Its headquarters were at Isca Augusta or Isca Silurum (Newport in South Wales) and in the Late Empire at Rutupiae (Richborough). Traces of this legion were still found in Sub-Roman Britain and Sub-Roman Gallia in 5th-6th centuries A.D.

Modelled in advancing pose with one foreleg raised and tail looped over onto the rump, head erect with suggestion of an ornamental plate or garland on the brow; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 227 grams total, 86 mm high including stand



From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

After the Roman annexation of Egypt, Egyptian cults such as that of the Apis bull were syncretised, becoming part of a distinctively Egyptian form of Roman polytheism. Representations of prancing Apis bulls, turned either left or right, have been found throughout the Roman Empire.