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LOT 0044
Roman Lapis Lazuli Gnostic Gemstone with Aphrodite Anadyomene
4TH-5TH CENTURY A.D.
5/8 in. (1.38 grams, 17 mm).
Ellipsoid in plan with enigmatic Greek legend 'BPE/IMW' to underside, facing figure of Aphrodite Anadyomene to obverse on baseline with Greek legend 'APE IAP', possibly an abbreviation for ΑΡ[ΌΡΙΦ]ΡΑ[Σ]Ι[Σ].
ProvenancePrivate collection, acquired on the German art market in 1993; thence by descent.
LiteratureCf. Faraone, C.A., 'Text, Image and Medium, The Evolution of the Graeco-Roman Magical Gemstones' in Entwistle, C., Adams, N., Gems of Heaven, recent research on engraved Gemstones in Late Antiquity, c. AD 200-600, London, 2011, pp.50-61, pls.11-12, for similar gemstones.
FootnotesThe gemstone belongs to a series of blue gemstones, usually of lapis lazuli or blue glass, showing the famous image of Aphrodite Anadyomene ('rising from the sea'). In some of these gemstones, we find the magical word arôriphrasis, which transliterates an Egyptian title of the goddess Hathor as 'The Lady of the Blue Stone'. Since Hathor and Aphrodite were assimilated in Graeco-Roman Egypt, there is some logic to the appearance of the name and Aphrodite on these stones.
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LOT 0044
Roman Lapis Lazuli Gnostic Gemstone with Aphrodite Anadyomene
Sold for (Inc. bp): £715
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Roman Marble Head of a Veiled Goddess
1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,680
With a palla drawn up over her hair, stepped at the rear to indicate a chignon; soft, youthful facial features with fleshy cheeks and a rounded jawline; mounted on a custom-made stand. 1.47 kg total, 18.5 cm including stand
with Gorny & Mosch, Munich, 21 June 2005, no.344. Private collection, Europe. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Gorny & Mosch catalogue pages. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13198-250132.
The head comes from a statue that most likely represented a matronly deity, Demeter or Hestia/Vesta, the goddess protector of the home hearth. The latter seems the most likely, as she was usually depicted (as in the Hestia Iustiniani, a prototype often replicated in the Roman era) with a covered head (velato capite), a symbol of modesty and marital virtue for the Roman matron. -
Roman Iridescent Moulded Fluted Glass Perfume Bottle
Cyprus, circa 1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £247
Piriform fluted body with narrow neck and everted rim, flared base. 19.7 grams, 60 mm
Private collection, Oxfordshire, UK, by direct descent from the collection of Judge George Cyril Griffith-Williams (1893-1983), Supreme Court Judge of the Colony of Cyprus; items having been collected in the 1930s and 1940s in Cyprus during his tenure there. -
Roman Bronze Sleeping Dog Protome and Finial Group
1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
Comprising: a stylised dog head with conical neck, and an onion-knop finial with a collar below. 6.42 grams total, 12.7-14.4 mm
From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.
