Loading, please wait...
LOT 0716
Roman Iridescent Glass Flask
1ST-4TH CENTURY A.D.
2 3/4 in. (34.58 grams, 70 mm).
Aqua glass drum-shaped jar with everted rim and rounded base.
ProvenanceAcquired Christie's, London, Antiquities, Works of Art and Important Renaissance Bronzes, Plaquettes and Limoges Enamels, 8 July 1981, no.617 (part).
From a private Wiltshire, UK, collection.
Accompanied by a copy of the relevant Christie's catalogue pages.
Cf. The British Museum, museum number 135304, for similar; Corning Museum of Glass, accession numbers 70.1.9 and 54.1.119, for similar.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
TimeLine is a leading auction house specialising in antiquities, ancient art, collectables, natural history, coins, medals, and books. Our auctions offer museums, collectors, historians, and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire unique and historically significant pieces.
-
Roman Roof Tile with Legion XIIIG Stamp
1st-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £182
Terracotta fragment with impressed stamp '[...] XIIIIG' for Legio XIV Gemina. 345 grams, 14 cm
From the collection of a Buckinghamshire, UK, collector established from the earlier 1960s.
Legio XIV Gemina ("The Twinned Fourteenth Legion") was raised by Julius Caesar in 57 BC; its cognomen Gemina (Twinned) was added when it was merged with another legion after the Battle of Actium. It took part in the defeat of Boudicca in AD 61. -
.jpg)
Large Romano-British Bronze Dolphin Mount
2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £715
Modelled in the round, with dentilled fin and tail, hollow to the underside, scale detailing. 126 grams, 12.3 cm
Found Lincolshire, UK.
The dolphin was believed to ferry the souls of the dead to the afterlife. This type of bronze figure was probably intended to form a doorknob. -
Late Roman Imperial Porphyry Fragment
4th-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,640
Formed as a parallelepiped with round corner having a possibly later polished side and the other three sides straight and round, with signs of carving; probably from an Imperial sarcophagus or monument; mounted on a custom-made stand. 9.85 kg total, 36.5 cm including stand
Acquired from the private collection of a Somerset gentleman who was related to Sir Arthur Evans. From the private collection of a UK gentleman since before 2005.
For the Romans, porphyry was the Imperial marble par excellence, and from Constantine the Great until the end of the 5th century, but probably also later, it was used to create sarcophagi for the emperors and members of the Imperial families. This particular stone was connected with the Imperial family because of its red colour, recalling the violet and red shades of the purple (porphyra), the precious colour assigned only to emperors and their relatives. In Constantinople, a room of the Imperial palace was called Porphýra, located on one of the palace terraces overlooking the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus. It was perfectly square in shape with a pyramidal ceiling and was entirely covered in purple porphyry speckled with white dots: this was the room where the empresses gave birth to the heir of the Roman Empire, called Porphyrogénnētos, meaning ‘born in the purple room’. Porphyry was widely used for building churches in the Christian Empire, and Justinian exhausted the supplies from Egypt by building the Great Church of Hagia Sophia, where still today a great amount of this material can be seen. The impressive Imperial sarcophagi were kept in the Church of the Holy Apostles, as well as the great porphyry sarcophagus of Constantine the Great, of which only a small fragment survives today in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul.
