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LOT 0690
Roman Redware Sherd with Venator Gladiator
4TH CENTURY A.D.
2 3/4 in. (18 grams, 70 mm).
The fighting venator dressed in a long sleeved tunic embroidered with orbiculi and pectorarin, segmenta on the sleeves, brandishing a javelin of venabulum type; suspension loop to the reverse. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceAcquired 1960s-1990s.
From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.
See the famous mosaic in Villa Borghese, in Gilbert, F., Devenir Gladiateur, la vie quotidienne á l'ecole de la mort, La Capelle-Marival, 2013, p.136, for a similar scene with similar costumes.
FootnotesThe combat scene is likely a reference to the gladiatorial fights between men and animals; such games in the arena were a principal form of entertainment through the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. Both men and women would partake in such fights. The venatores (hunters) were the most specialised in this field, fighting with a spear with winged blades and long knives (culter venatorius).
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AUCTIONS:
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Modelled in the round with naturalistic detailing, sitting upright nibbling a nut. 11.7 grams, 25 mm
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Roman Polychrome Wall Painting Fragment
Mid 1st century A.D.Estimate: £4,000 - 6,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,000
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. 1.26 kg total, 17 cm high including stand
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Our 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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