Roman Iridescent Glass Feeder Bottle

Beaker or lamp with convex wall and convex everted rim; applied blue glass ovals and clusters of stippled dots around the shoulder; iridescent surfaces. 100 grams, 88 mm wide

Fine condition.

Paris collection, 1990s. From an important Paris gallery, France. Ex private Parisian collection.

Comprising: a lead glans slingshot; a bronze 'seahorse' trumpet brooch; a bronze furniture finial; a glass bangle fragment with white trails; a bronze flat-section situla handle. 164 grams total, 2-11.5 cm



Found near a Roman fort in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK. Acquired from the finder in 2006. Property of a Nottinghamshire gentleman.

Standing nude with vine-leaf wreath on the brow, muscular physique, dressed beard and stern facial expression, holding a bunch of grapes in the left hand; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 104 grams, 65 mm high (127 grams total, 71 mm high including stand)



Private Swiss collection, acquired 2001. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11621-199008.

Silenus was closely associated with the Dionysian cult. He was a deity associated with the forest, wine, drunkenness, the treading-dance of the wine press as an orgiastic ritual. While intoxicated, Silenus was believed to possess the power of prophecy. He helped raise the god Dionysus, son of Zeus, after he was entrusted to him by Hermes. Once, while travelling with Dionysus through Phrygia, Silenus was captured by King Midas who treated his captive hospitably. As a reward, Dionysus granted the king his famous 'golden touch'. The sacred animal of Silenus is the donkey, the mode of transport he often used according to Greek mythology.