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LOT 0144
Roman Gold Ring with Cult of Jupiter Dolichenus Bull Gemstone
2ND CENTURY A.D.
1 in. (4.41 grams, 26.31 mm overall, 18.49 mm internal diameter (approximate size British Q 1/2, USA 8 1/4, Europe 18.12, Japan 17)).
A solid, smooth gold ring with D-shaped hoop, oval carnelian intaglio with a bull surmounted by a star; repaired.
ProvenanceAcquired 1970-2000s.
Ex Abelita family collection.
Cf. Beutler, F. et al., Der Adler Roms. Carnuntum und der Armee der Cäsaren, Bad-Deutsch Altenberg, 2017, item 153, for type; for the Dolichenus cult see Kusseven, P., The Cult of Iupiter Dolichenus: origins and iconography, Ankara, 2007, p.120, fig.B15.
FootnotesThe bull, symbol of thunder and fertility, was an important component of the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus, to which this ring is probably connected. The god is usually represented as standing on a bull holding an axe in his upraised right hand and a bolt of lightning in the left. This bull perpetuated the connection with storms, a frequent and rather obvious identification of power and ferocity. This was a Hittite concept inherited from the Anatolians and then by the Romans.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0144
Roman Gold Ring with Cult of Jupiter Dolichenus Bull Gemstone
Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,105
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Late Roman Provincial Marble Head
3rd-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,950
A carved marble head with large lentoid eyes and wavy hair; mounted on a custom-made stand. 8.9 kg total, 37 cm high including stand
French collection, 1960s-early 2000s. From an important Paris gallery, France.
A series of portrait heads, busts and marble statues from the 5th-6th century A.D. Ephesus, show great affinity with this sculpture. This typology of portraits shows how the late Roman art progressed in the search for a characterisation. The hair is deeply worked with a drill creating a chiaroscuro and immobile mass, the face is treated with large expressive folds, making this head a magnificent expression of late Imperial Roman art. -
Roman Terracotta Double Oil Lamp with Reflector
Late 1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £715
A pottery lamp with triangular ornament handle with palmette above and acanthus leaves below, plain ring behind, concave discus with central filling-hole, two double-volute round tipped nozzles with conspicuous knobs, flat base-ring marked off by two circular grooves. 139 grams, 19.5 cm wide
From a 19th century German collection. Acquired in the 1990s. Ex London, UK, collection.
This lamp belongs to the classification of Loeschcke type III (Bailey type D). The type is characterised by a handle ornament that is either figurative or in the shape of a crescent, with decorated triangle, or two-lobed bud; and a usually round-tipped volute-nozzle, exceptionally with angular tip. Lamps may have one or two, or sometimes more nozzles. This type is typical of the Late Neronian-Flavian period. -
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Roman Tragic Mask Applique
1st century A.D. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £130
A rectangular slate mount showing the head of a tragic mask with angular eyes, straight nose and a clownish, down-turned mouth. 3 grams, 16.2 mm
Very fine condition.
Acquired from Galerie Jean Phillipe Mariaud de Serres, 1990-2000. Property of a French collector.
Small appliqués like this one were common in Roman furniture. In the Graeco-Roman world, comic and tragic masks played an important role in Greek drama, commonly performed in the Roman Empire. The actors had the ability to easily play more than one character in succession with a simple change of masks, and the characters of the masks became popular objects in the material culture.
