Roman Tabular Lead Weight Collection

Worked in high-relief with hairstyle typical of the transitional period from the Consulate to the Empire; oval face with a prominent forehead, oval eyelids and clearly defined lines around the eyes; hair arranged in vertical lines combed back from the forehead; pronounced lips, typical rendering of the wide auricles; the lower part of the tunic visible with a well defined round edge around the neck; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 5.94 kg total, 22.5 cm high including stand



Acquired from Gallery Gryphos, Munich, 1992. 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 search certificate number no.11996-211878.

The head was probably pertinent to a series of funerary family portraits. It has realistic modelling of male features, which speaks of a portrait in reduced dimensions or a reference to a well-known person in the environment where it was exhibited. The portrait is worked only on the front, leaving the back, as well as the lower part of the sculpture, roughly treated.

Comprising a single earring with thick hook closure, folding towards the bottom and ending in a small hoop; teardrop-shaped plaque with ten bezels having cabochon insert garnets; a central garnet cabochon surrounded by smaller garnet cabochons in different hues of red, framed by gold granules, each stone set in a gold cell with filigree collar; the back decorated by fine filigree. 7.4 grams, 33 mm



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

The use of Roman style jewellery continued in the east also after the fall of the west, especially in the old jewellery production centres like Alexandria and Antioch, giving way to an increased production in Constantinople. In the Eastern Empire, jewellery played an important role, expressing rank status and being also used as a diplomatic tool.

Swastika-shaped fibula with horse-head decoration, each head with punched ring-and-dot eye, a similar motif to the centre. 16.7 grams, 45 mm



Acquired before 2000. From the collection of a European gentleman living in the UK.

In the 3rd century A.D., several examples of fibulae in the shape of four horses’ heads forming a swastika (type Almgren 232) seem to be related to the creation of the Illyrian cavalry corps in Roman army. Many examples of these military fibulae were found in ancient Roman Dacia (Romania), in Roman Illyricum and Moesia.