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LOT 0787
Roman Pewter Cignus Spoon with Coiled Swan-Neck Handle
4TH CENTURY A.D.
3 3/8 in. (42.4 grams, 85 mm).
With large oval bowl and a long, slender handle, compressed into S-shape and terminating in a stylised bird’s head.
ProvenanceFound near Welney, Cambridgeshire, in 1985.
LiteratureCf. Johns, C.M., The Hoxne Late Roman Treasure: Gold Jewellery and Silver Plate, London, 2010, no.81, for identical.
FootnotesSimilar silver spoons (cygni), were found within a set of ten spoons (today at the British Museum with inventory nos. 1994,0408.81-90) with ownership inscriptions. The handle attachment of such spoons had some decorative profiling, and the name 'AVRVRSICINI' within the bowl was inlaid with niello. The spoons seems to have been produced by a Romano-British workshop of Late Antiquity (4th-5th centuries A.D.). The cygnus was a particular type of ligula. This type was characterised by a large, oval-shaped bowl, but was equipped, unlike the common ligula, with a shortened, recurved handle which terminated in a stylised water bird or swan's head (swan = cygnus in Latin).
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LOT 0787
Roman Pewter Cignus Spoon with Coiled Swan-Neck Handle
Estimate £400 - 600€460 - 700 (for guidance only)$540 - 810 (for guidance only)
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Roman Geometric Floor Mosaic
Circa 1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,450
Fragment or portion of floor mosaic, showing a composition of alternated patterns of different coloured squares in chequerboard pattern, combined in diagonal rows of light yellow, light blue, off-white, pink, red, light violet, again off-white, light grey, light grey, dark grey, off-white, light yellow (repeated two times) light blue and off-white shadows; on the lower part a red line is edging the composition over an off-white band. 82.5 kg, 156 cm wide including frame
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With inset burnt white stone cloison. 9.42 grams, 20.30 mm overall, 13.82 x 16.27 mm internal diameter (approximate size British H, USA 3 3/4, Europe 6.18, Japan 6)
Fine condition.
Acquired 1970's. Ex UK collection. Property of a Hampshire, UK gentleman. -
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Modelled in the round with naturalistic detailing, lying slightly curled, possibly asleep. 17.2 grams, 37 mm
‘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.
