Roman Style Gold Ring with Portrait Gemstone

A mixed group of beads, mainly large spherical lapis lazuli and cylindrical amethyst types. 238 grams total, 8-22 mm



Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.

A magnificent and superb quality Victorian Gothic revival painted altar or reredos panel, as exemplified by the works and designs of Augustus Pugin, on Welsh slate depicting a large golden cross with latticed arms and squared quatrefoil terminals showing the emblems and names of the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the cross set over a circle enclosing a quatrefoil background with the main discus showing a white cross trefoil on a red expanding cross against a green background with the Christogram letters 'IHS' entwined for Jesus Christ; the design set against a dark blue field ornamented with 48 golden radiant six-pointed stars; complete with the original carved oak frame together with the carved oak projecting base plinth shelf with quatrefoil perforations and another Christogram 'IHS' within a blue oval to the central projection. 73 kg total, 134.5 cm base and 159 cm high

Fine condition.

Collection formed in the 2000s. Property of an East Anglia gentleman.

From the 4th century A.D., the vision of Ezekiel and John's Apocalypse, assigned the lion, the angel, the eagle and the ox a stable place in the iconography of the tetramorph to represent the evangelist Mark (lion) next to the calf (Luke), the angel (Matthew) and the eagle (John). They are, in Christian iconography and theology, the four winged cherubs singing the triumphal hymn, exclaiming, proclaiming, and saying: 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth'. The oldest representations date back to the 5th century A.D., and are found in the mosaics of the baptistry of Naples and in the apse of S. Prudenziana in Rome. The tetramorph was a favourite subject in 12th century ecclesiastic art and its use has continued to the present day.

A marble interpretation of the famous 'Bathing Venus' (Pudica Venus) statue, modelled naturalistically in the round, nude, hair piled behind her head, holding her garment to her breast, standing on a composite discoid base imitating a stone pavement, with a casket at her feet; after Giambologna's Renaissance original; restored. 21.2 kg, 78 cm high

Old repair to neck.

French collection, 1960s-early 2000s. From an important Paris gallery, France.

The original 'Bathing Venus' statue in bronze has been attributed to Giambologna (Giovanni da Bologna) (1529-1608), and was probably created for King Henry IV of France as a diplomatic gift from Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. This is a neoclassical interpretation of that Renaissance statue.