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LOT 0806
Roman Sheet Gold Phalera Covers with Pelta Shields
4TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.
2 3/8 in. (6.60 grams total, 61-62 mm).
Comprising a pair of discoid appliqués with beaded rim and high-relief pelta (military shield) motif, one with the pelta surmounted by a kantharos with a laurel wreath above, the other with vegetal volutes. [2, No Reserve]
ProvenanceAcquired in the early 1990s.
From the collection of a London antiquarian.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Cf. Sannazzaro, M., Giostra, C., Petala Aurea, Gold-Sheet-work of Byzantine and Lombard Origin from the Rovati Collection, Truccazzano, 2014, nos.8-9-10, for circular gold sheets with similar decorations; D’Amato, R., Negin, A., Decorated Roman Armour, from the Age of the Kings to the death of Justinian the Great, London, 2017.
FootnotesThe subject represented on these two appliqués is a crescentic military shield, the so-called pelta, associated in the late Roman iconography with the Amazon female warriors. Many shields of this typology were also represented on the pedestal of the Column of Arcadius in Constantinople (circa 400 A.D.) and seemed to be associated with the heavy cavalry of the Imperial Guard (D’Amato-Negin, 2017, p.252).
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0806
Roman Sheet Gold Phalera Covers with Pelta Shields
Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
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Carved in the round with collar-length flowing hair; part of a frieze or group. 345 grams, 80 mm
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UK collection formed in the 1980s. Ex property of a North London gentleman.
