Roman Silver Ring with Heracles

Hollow-formed with fine detailing to the fingers and nails; with fixing points for a military standard (signum) used by each unit under a centurion, originally fixed with the palm facing forwards inside a wreath. 718 grams, 21 cm

Generally intact and good defined, except for the lower part.

Acquired in Europe before 2000. European private collection. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12003-211851.

Roman military signa decorated by phalerae and surmounted by a right hand are visible since the Late Consular Age. The hand (manus) symbolised the fides, i.e. the allegiance between the soldiers and the Res Publica. It is also possible that the hand belonged to a statue in which it was extended as a sign of silence, to allow the speaker to speak. However, the iconography of military hands, and also the resemblance with a bronze hand (military signum) preserved in the Vindonissa museum (Windisch), support the possibility that the object was part of a military standard.

With tapering shoulders, cup bezel, inset green glass cabochon with intaglio bird and flower motif. 7.53 grams, 24.95 mm overall, 17.50 mm internal diameter (approximate size British J, USA 4 3/4, Europe 8.69, Japan 8)



From a late Japanese specialist collector, 1970-2000s.

Bust and torso of an indigenous nobleman modelled in the round; with rounded facial features, the shoulder-length hair dressed in hanks and cut into tiers, centre-parted and framing the face; the eyes exaggerated, probably originally emphasised with sheet-silver detailing; the broad chest smooth with ring-and-dot nipples; a thick collar or torc sitting high on the collar-bone, with braided detailing and finished with a D-shaped pendant; each upper-arm supported by a barley-twist column with cup finial and stylised flames above; the centre supported by a rectangular block with incised herringbone linear pattern interspersed with pointillé pellets; the base broad and gently curved away from the figure, with a lattice of bilinear panels bearing groups of three ring-and-dot motifs, D-shaped loop to the forward edge flanked by smaller lobes; the reverse plain, the head hollow with remains of a thick loop at the lower edge of the hair; significant iron deposits to surface from its deposition environment; of provincial Roman workmanship. 461 grams, 13 cm



From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Its construction with a central block flanked by two short pillars (i.e. leaving two slots) suggests that the piece may have been intended as a rein-guide for a chariot, whereby the leather or fabric straps would pass through the two apertures and, by their separation, be prevented from tangling. Bronze figural busts are known from Gallo-Roman contexts: they are usually female and interpreted as tutelae or protective tribal spirits (Boucher & Tassinari, 1976, items 62-4). The present example is evidently designed to impress the viewer with its portrayal of the 'noble barbarian' as a suitable conveyor of martial splendour (Boucher & Tassinari, 1976, item 321). The impressive figure recalls the famed statue 'The Dying Gaul' in the Capitoline Museum, Rome, showing a 'barbarian' warrior with a neck torc, thick hair and moustache, discarded weapons and shield carved on the ground and a carnyx trumpet between his legs. The statue is a copy of a Hellenistic original celebrating a Greek victory over the Galatians.