Floor panel with depicting a naiad nymph, minor goddess of watery elements, depicted as a beautiful young woman dressed in a garment draped around her slender waist, secured by a golden sash, holding a reed at the crook of her right elbow and bringing a golden hydria to her lips; some reconstitution, restored and mounted in a modern matrix and frame for display. [No Reserve]

PROVENANCE:
Ex property of a Munich collector; previously acquired in the 1980s.
Property of an English gentleman.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.160577-10073.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

LITERATURE:
See Neal, D.S. and Cosh, R.C., Roman Mosaics of Britain. Volume III. South-East Britain. Part 1, London, 2009, p.278, fig.255(c), for a standing naiad; see also Gaziantep Museum of Archaeology, for a similar depiction of reclining Naiad nymph of the River Euphrates.

FOOTNOTES:
Naiades were the nymphs of streams, fountains, lakes, rivers, marshes and springs, and in conjunction with Artemis, they were protectors of girls and nurses of the young. They were minor goddesses who attended the assemblies on Mount Olympus and often gave their names to water supplies, towns and islands.