Roman Glass Vessel and Later Artefact Collection

D-section hoop expanding at the shoulders, oval plaque bezel with a leaping lion facing left. 5.08 grams, 25.61 mm overall, 22.15 mm internal diameter (approximate size British P 1/2, USA 7 3/4, Europe 16.86, Japan 16)



Ex Norri collection, Milton Keynes, UK, 1980s-1990s.

The box with a piriform body and hinged lid, three holes to the underside; the face with inset chevron and ring of mosaic glass, high-relief stylised phallus to the centre with enamel panel. 12.2 grams, 42 mm



Acquired in the early 1970s. Ex property of a Surrey, UK, collector.

Square plaque from a baldric or military belt, with an engraved circle in the centre depicting a shepherd resting under a tree with two crossed branches, leaning on his staff with a greyhound beside him. 48.7 grams, 66 mm



From a UK collection since before 1990.

The plaque is related to a series of late Antique bronze plates destined to decorate the military baldrics or belts. Some of them were found in a late Roman tomb in Totanés (Toledo), ornamented with busts, and a plaque from Merida (Badajoz) was decorated with the personification of Rome. The plaque is related to similar ones from Italian and Syrian-Palestinian workshops, whose ornamentation seems sometimes to be connected to imperial authority. Parallels are linked to similar pieces of different iconographic types, but which were equally popular in the late Roman Empire, such as hunting or bucolic motifs.