LOT 0623

Roman Redware Sherd with Constantinian Portraits

4TH CENTURY A.D.

7 1/4 in. (155 grams, 18.5 cm).

From the upper part of the vessel, displaying a frieze of profile busts and figural scenes within roundels, winged Victory holding a wreath and standing on globe between the roundels; the central roundel with Sol Invictus and a sun chariot. [No Reserve]

Acquired 1960s-1990s.
From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.

Cf. Demandt, A., Engemann, J., Imperator Caesar Flavius Constantinus - Konstantin der Grosse, Mainz, 2007, for similar Constantinian portraits on medallions (p.81), cameos (p.134), lead tokens (p.373).

This terra sigillata fragment appears to have been part of a large tray, celebrating the imperial triumph of an early 4th century emperor, possibly Constantine or a member of his family such as Crispus. The combination of triumphal symbols (palms, quadriga, radiated crown) with imperial figures is typical of the tetrarchy and early Constantinian era, where elements of dying paganism were still used to celebrate imperial glory. Note the detailed late Roman clothing, with a closed chlamys-paludamentum on the right shoulder and, in the profile figure, a thorax with hemispherical shoulder protections.