Roman Gold Hoop Earring Pair with Pearl Drops

Sheet-bronze two-part pyxis with carinated sidewall to the base, lid with reserved octofoil on a pounced field, concentric pointillé rings; working hinge mechanism. 64 grams, 86 mm



Acquired in the 1990s. Ex Abelita family collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Although pyxides were originally made of wood, as their name suggests, the term soon came to refer, in the Graeco-Roman world, to round containers used for both medicinal and domestic purposes. From the time of the Achaeans to the end of the Roman Empire, we find pyxides made of horn, ivory, bronze, silver, and gold. Women used them to store their ointments, makeup, and toiletries. A pyxis used for medical purposes was called a loculus, while the name pyxidicula designated a container for eye drops, and a tripuxium was a pyxis containing extracts from three different containers.

With bulbous body, tubular neck, broad everted rim; extensive iridescence. 10.6 grams, 70 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.

Similar bottles were found in the Cemetery of Ein-Gedi in the Judaean Desert, in a settlement abandoned in 40-37 B.C, and in Homs, Syria, dated to the first half of the first century A.D. These are among the first earliest datable blown bottles.

Comprising globular and barrel-shaped types with eye motifs in contrasting colours. 11.3 grams total, 14-15 mm



Acquired in London or Japan, early 1980s. Property of a London, UK, gentleman.