Roman Tile Fragment Group with Military Stamps

A nicolo gemstone with profile portrait bust, set in a 2nd century A.D. hollow-formed gold ring with granule clusters to the shoulders. 2.55 grams, 23.99 mm overall, 16.55 mm internal diameter (approximate size British M, USA 6, Europe 12.46, Japan 12)



UK private collection, since 1956. Formed in the 1950s by by Mr and Mrs S. Broukal, thence by decent. with Bonham's, London, New Bond Street, 30 November 2016, lot 155 [Part]. English private collection.

A sheet-bronze votive plaque fragment displaying repoussé ornament, likely the god Asclepius holding his snake-entwined staff beneath a columned arch, additional snakes raising their heads and necks beside and above him, other enigmatic symbols in the field. 2.67 grams, 52 mm



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

Aesculapius, god of medicine, the Greek Asclepius, son of Apollo and a mortal, Coronis, is often accompanied by a snake, a symbol of wisdom and healing power. Aesculapius-Asclepius is also often represented with the staff having a snake wrapped around it.

A silver-gilt brooch in form of cicada with hollow-formed D-section head and neck, flat triangular wings; the head with bulbous eyes above a waisted neck; granule detailing to the head; pin-lug and catch-wire to the reverse. 3.82 grams, 23 mm



Acquire in the 1990s. Ex Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

This type of brooch was popular among the Hunnic tribes, as well as in Roman Pannonia and Illyricum before the arrival of the Huns. Early Hunnic designs from Pannonia may have borrowed from late Roman types. With the arrival of new populations due to migration from the east, a new material culture developed, described as the Danubian or Ponto-Danubian style, as many of its features appear in the Pontic region as well. Although the exact meaning of the cicada brooch is not known to us, it is possible that it retained its ancient symbolism of rebirth or regeneration of the soul.