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LOT 0124
Roman Polychrome Wall Painting Fragment
MID 1ST CENTURY A.D.
6 3/4 in. (1.26 kg total, 17 cm high including stand).
Decorated with a frieze of foliage and volutes from which a blossom is springing, the image framed by a green band of arrows, an ochre and cream line border below; background painted in magnificent rosso pompeiano (Pompeian red); mounted on a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceFrom a European collection formed in the 19th century or earlier, based on the custom-made tooled leather box similar to another fragment kept in a case of similar manufacture with a label reading 'Fragment de Pompéi provenant de la vente Préat 1868' sold at Sotheby's New York, 12 December 2013, lot 84.
Mitsukoshi department store, Nihonbashi, Tokyo, by 1974.
Japanese art market, 1974-1978.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no 11826-207724.
Cf. Gullini, G., La pittura romana, Torino, 1969, pp.72ff.; Gullini, G., Problemi di pittura romana, Torino, 1972, pp.60ff.; Andreae, B., Cangik, H., De Martino, F., Grilli, A., Gullini, G., Princeps Urbium, cultura e vita sociale nell’Italia Romana, Milano, 1991, fig.126; Maulucci, F.P., Pompei, Guida Archeologica degli scavi con itinerari, piante e ricostruzioni, Napoli-Milano, 1987; Berg, R., Kuivalainen, I., Domus Pompeiana M. Lucretii, IX,3, 5.24, The inscriptions, Works of Art and Finds from the Old and New Excavations, Vantaa, 2019, fig.7, p.215; for Roman painting of this type in general see Henig, M., A Handbook of Roman Art, a comprehensive survey of all the arts of the Roman world, New York, 1983, p.96.
FootnotesOur painted stucco was probably part of a decorative frame, like that visible in the cubiculum of the Villa of P. Fannius Sinistor, in Boscoreale, which is earlier but represents a model of continuity through the decoration of the Roman walls. This filling of the tablinum and other rooms with ornamental plant-type columns and panels decorated with leaves and plant scrolls is found in Pompeii in certain houses, such as that of Caecilius Jucundus.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0124
Roman Polychrome Wall Painting Fragment
Estimate £4,000 - 6,000€4,640 - 6,960 (for guidance only)$5,400 - 8,100 (for guidance only)
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Late Eastern Roman Gold Ring with Emerald and Garnets
4th-5th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,420
Comprising a square-section hoop with expanding shoulders, each shoulder set with a garnet cabochon and the raised square bezel with an emerald. 6.97 grams, 24.18 mm overall, 15.20 mm internal diameter (approximate size British E 1/2, USA 2 1/2, Europe 3, Japan 3)
Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.11783-204563.
The presence of emerald suggests that the place of origin of this ring could have been in Roman Egypt, and the good colour of the emerald proposes a dating to the 4th to 5th century A.D. -
Roman Bifacial Green Jasper Gemstone with Saddled Male Donkey and EVM
1st century A.D.Estimate: £800 - 1,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £444
The intaglio with a donkey (mule?) grazing, body facing right; Latin inscription on the verso ‘EVM’ (him). 0.98 grams, 12 mm
Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection.
Donkeys were used by the Roman army from circa 200 B.C. but mules, the hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, were to become the most important working animals for the military and were used to pull heavy artillery such as catapults. It has been estimated that there were probably half a million mules serving in the Roman army by the time of Augustus (31 B.C.-A.D. 14). DNA studies have now shown that mules may have comprised up to 50% of the equids in the Roman Empire. The use of pack-mules for the army continued in the Eastern Roman army until the fall of Constantinople. -
Roman Iridescent Glass Cup
2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Green with applied slightly raised foot, u-shaped cross section with stepped double rim 54 grams, 75 mm wide
Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016.
