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LOT 0149
Roman Reused Inked Wooden Wax Tablet Relating to Sheep and Clothing
4TH CENTURY A.D.
7 5/8 x 6 3/8 in. (50 grams, 19.5 x 16 cm).
The shallow recessed panel displaying seventeen lines of hand-inked cursive text; reverse bearing twenty lines of hand-inked cursive text with a shallow rectangular vertical recess which once held wax seals; pierced twice on the upper and lower edges for attachment. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom an important London collection since 1975.
PublishedRothenhoefer, P., Neue römische Rechtsdokumente aus dem Byzacena-Archiv / New Roman Legal Documents from the Byzacena Archive, (forthcoming).
LiteratureSee Thomas, J. D., Vindolanda: The Latin Writing Tablets, Britannia Monograph Series No 4, London, 1983, for examples of wooden tabulae re-used as writing surfaces; for examples of testamentary documents on wooden tablets that have survived, see FIRA III, p.47, for Anthony Silvanus from 142 AD, also see BGU VII 1695 for Safinnius Herminus; for another from Transfynydd, North Wales, see Arch. Camb. 150, pp.143-156.
FootnotesProf. Dr. Phil. Peter Rotenhoefer says: "The tablet is the second tabula of a testament consisting normally of three tablets (a tryptich). It contains in a highly formalistic legal language legacies for various persons (inter alia a Iulia) who receive certain items like e.g. sheep and clothes.
17 lines of cursive script on the first page, 20 lines on the rear."
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LOT 0149
Roman Reused Inked Wooden Wax Tablet Relating to Sheep and Clothing
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,150
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Roman Solid Gold Ring with Dotted Bezel
3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,690
With facetted shank and fluted shoulders, rectangular bezel with outer bands and central plaque bearing two lines of impressed points. 5.97 grams, 23.03 mm overall, 16.64 mm internal diameter (approximate size British G, USA 3 1/4, Europe 4.92, Japan 4)
From a late Japanese specialist collector, 1970-2000s. -
Roman Redware Sherd with Warriors from the Trojan Cycle
4th-5th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Displaying an possibly unfinished scene composed of robed warriors or other figures wearing Phrygian caps, wide tunics with segmenta, oriental trousers (anaxyrida) and tugging on a rope; later attachment loop to the reverse. 163 grams, 10.1 cm
Acquired 1960s-1990s. From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.
The scene probably represents an episode of the Trojan cycle, with the Trojans (usually represented in Late Antiquity with a Phrygian cap, wide sleeved tunics and Persian-style trousers) dragging the wooden horse inside the walls of Troy. In the late Roman Empire the Trojan cycle became often the subject of artistic representations, such as the famous Ilias Ambrosiana now preserved in Milan, or the miniatures of the Vergilius Romanus. -
Roman Fluted Iridescent Amber Glass Cup
3rd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £98
With iridescent surface, flat bottom, vertical ribbed segmentation, slightly everted chipped rim. 88 grams, 98 mm wide
Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector, with numbered reference G.31. London collection, 2016.
