Roman Ring with Julius Caesar Intaglio

A bronze figure or gaming piece of a nude female in crouching pose with hands placed on the hips, possibly giving birth; the hair shown drawn up in a bun, segmented armband to each upper arm. 30.4 grams, 28 mm high



Private Swiss collection, acquired 2002.

The dice features six attitudes on which it could land when rolled, one of which includes the figure's head. The earliest concrete historical evidence of games played with dice originated from ancient Egypt, circa 3000 B.C., although it is generally believed by historians that dice pre-dated the ancient Egyptian civilisation. The Romans played two games using dice: Tali and Tesserae. The former originated in Greece and features four animal bones. The aim was to roll in such a way that each die displayed a different number-the higher the combined number, the greater the score. The latter was played using three dice, the goal being to roll triple six, or to achieve the highest combined numbers out of the contestants; it was a game of chance and the most common street and tavern gambling game in ancient Rome. ‘Dogs’ referred to poor scores and ‘Venus’ to high ones. Roman players rolled dice from a special cup called a fritillium onto wood, bronze, or marble boards, depending on their class and wealth. Roman elites boasted ornate boards inscribed with their names. The gambling which ensued from dice games caused extreme social issues in Roman society, leading the government to eventually outlaw dice games, although these laws were largely ignored.

A group of two glass vessels comprising: one blue glass toilet bottle with bulbous body, long cylindrical neck and rolled rim; a green glass vessel with squat, tapering body, ogival shoulders and trumpet-style neck and lip, pontil to base. 67 grams total, 5.1-15 cm

Fine condition.

Acquired before 1983. Ex London gallery, 1990s.

A copper-alloy bracelet formed as a penannular hoop with rounded terminals, the exterior face divided into rectangular segments, each decorated with one of various repeating decorative schemes: five recessed dots with pricked dotted borders; dotted arcs and lines; horizontal cluster of three recessed dots with dotted chevrons above and below; slender vertical panels with central dotted columns. 24.5 grams, 65 mm



Acquired since the 1970s. Ex property of an Austrian private collector.