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LOT 0608
Roman Redware Sherd with Giant Geryon
3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.
3 in. (36 grams, 78 mm).
A fragment of redware ceramic from a moulded vessel, low-relief design depicting the giant Geryon as a helmetted Roman Miles advancing, with gladius held ready in both his left hands and a studded round shield; modern mounting loop to the reverse. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceAcquired 1960s-1990s.
From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.
See D'Amato, R., Roman Army Units in the Eastern Provinces (2), Oxford, 2022, p.41, for the iconography of Geryon as Roman legionary.
FootnotesThe image is a representation of the giant Geryon, a monster killed by Herakles usually represented with three bodies and three heads, or three heads and one body, or three bodies and one head. In the Roman iconography (but already visible in Greek iconography) he is often represented as an armoured warrior. The original pottery to which the fragment belonged was probably originally decorated with the labours of Hercules.
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Large Roman Redware Lamp with Lion
4th century A.D. or laterEstimate: £250 - 350 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £125
A clay lamp with rounded lug handle, shoulder with foliage in relief on each side, separated from the slightly concave discus by a ridge, which continues toward the round-tipped nozzle forming a wide channel between the discus and the wick hole; two equal-sized filling-holes at upper and lower part of the discus decorated with a lion running left, raised slightly convex base-ring with an additional inner ring. 163 grams, 13.5 cm
Acquired from a central London Antiquities Dealers Association (ADA) member's gallery in 1990. From the estate of a Lancashire gentleman.
The present lamps seems to be molded in Terra Sigillata Africana (TSA) = African Red Slip (ARS) and can be related to Atlante types VI. The passage from lamps of Loeschcke type VIII in TSA with a heart-shaped nozzle ( = Atlante form I) to the channelled so-called Christian lamps ( = Atlante forms VIII and X, or Hayes types I and II) was progressively achieved by three factors: the transformation of the initially circular discus into an oval shape, the elongation of the nozzle, and the increased width and length of the channel. -
Roman Magical Gnostic Gemstone in Silver Ring
2nd-3rd century A.D. and laterEstimate: £1,000 - 1,400 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £550
A glass intaglio with Gnostic symbolism including a figure emerging from a poppy-head, asterisks and other symbols; set in an early 20th century silver finger ring; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 12.32 grams, 25.86 mm overall, 19.79 mm internal diameter (approximate size British T 1/2, USA 9 3/4, Europe 21.89, Japan 21)
Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection. -
Roman Goddess Statuette Heads
Circa 1st-3rd century A.D.Estimate: £300 - 400 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £150
A pair of semi-naturalistic bronze statue heads modelled in the round: a female with hair held in a chignon at the nape; figure with hair dressed in short wavy tufts, large eyes with exaggerated eyelashes. 71 grams total, 23-25 mm
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