Roman Iridescent Glass Pyxis

Modelled in the round with semi-naturalistic detailing, sinuous standing on a slender rectangular base. 1.05 grams, 20 mm wide



‘The Ancient Menagerie Collection’ formerly the property of a Cambridgeshire lady, collected since the 1990s and acquired from auctions and dealers throughout Europe and the USA, now ex London collection.

Showing the figure of a bird enclosed inside a medallion, with edges decorated with a foliage, moulded grooves in the upper part, remains of red pigment on the dividing space. 643 grams, 12.5 cm



Acquired from Millon Arts D'Orient, with lot sticker. Property of a Ruislip, UK, gentleman, by inheritance.

The motif of a bird enclosed in a roundel draws inspiration from Parthian and Sassanid art, and decorated the ceilings of Roman Hellenistic tombs and temples of the Roman East. Our fragment could have been part of the polychrome stucco decoration of the ceiling of a tomb, or a square insert in a temple building. It certainly had to be painted in showy colours, of which clear traces remain in the amaranth red on the right of the fragment and in the pink and blue traces visible on the bird.

Probably from a colossal statue of Silenus or a satyr, detailed and naturalistic rendering of a left ear, conical shape with accurate depiction of the internal hair. 767 grams, 18.5 cm



Acquired in Europe before 1995. Private collection, Europe.

In the mythology of ancient Greece and in the Graeco-Roman literary world, satyrs were a community of beings who lived mostly in woods, surrounded by nature, and often together with nymphs. In the most ancient period they were imagined by the Greeks like Sileni, in human form, but with the ears, tail and sometimes hooves of horses. Seilenoi were depicted as fat, elderly, white-haired men, with snub noses, balding heads, and the ears and tails of asses. They were sometimes covered in fluffy white hair and occasionally sported a pair of ox horns.