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LOT 0871
Roman Terracotta Lamp with Fighting Gladiators
1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
4 7/8 in (84 grams, 12.4 cm).
Composed of a discoid body with sunken discus bearing a scene of two gladiators in combat in relief, tabula ansata below, ring handle and roughly D-shaped nozzle with volutes; old crack to base.
ProvenanceFrom a German collection.
Ex Cambridge, UK, collection, 1980s.
Cf. Gilbert, F., Devenir Gladiateur, la vie quotidienne á l'ecole de la mort, La Capelle-Marival, 2013, pp.30-31, for similar lucernae.
FootnotesThe two gladiators seem to be wearing the armaturae of murmillones. All gladiators began their career as provocatores; the learning of their combat technique was polyvalent and allowed the fighters to specialise as a large shield-bearer (the scutati) like murmillones, or as a small shield-bearer, parmati, like the oplomachus.
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LOT 0871
Roman Terracotta Lamp with Fighting Gladiators
Estimate £500 - 700€580 - 810 (for guidance only)$680 - 950 (for guidance only)
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Roman Silver Lunar Pendant
2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
With lozenge-section tapering arms and a large suspension loop. 1.6 grams, 17 mm
Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Roman Sheet Gold Phalera Covers with Pelta Shields
4th-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
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. 6.60 grams total, 61-62 mm
Acquired in the early 1990s. From the collection of a London antiquarian. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
The 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). -
'Thames' Bead Collection
1st-2nd millennium A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
Including annular, spherical, tabular and other types in various materials. 66 grams total, 3-22 mm
Found Billingsgate spoil from the Thames foreshore, London, UK, circa 1984. Property of an Essex collector.
