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LOT 0685
Romano-British Enamelled Bronze 'VITA VENI' Knee Brooch
1ST CENTURY A.D.
1 1/2 in. (20.6 grams, 39 mm).
With cylindrical transverse headplate, scoped profile to the bow, catch to the reverse; shallow enamelled cells with reserved 'VITA VENI' legend translating to: '(My) life, come (to me)', since the Romans used the word uita ('life') as a term of endearment – Cicero, for example, when writing to his wife, calls her mea uita ('my life'), equivalent to 'darling'.
ProvenanceFound Suffolk, UK.
From an East Anglian private collection.
Cf. Bayley, J. & Butcher, S., Roman Brooches in Britain: A Technological and Typological Study based on the Richborough Collection, London, 2004, item 244, for type.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0685
Romano-British Enamelled Bronze 'VITA VENI' Knee Brooch
Sold for (Inc. bp): £195
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Roman Bronze Statuette of Helios-Alexander
2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,820
The god standing nude on an ivy-leaf base in contrapposto pose with right arm extended and hand held palm-outwards; mantle pinned at the right shoulder and wrapped around the bent left arm; the head held erect with soft rounded facial features and luxuriant curls, diadem with radiating spikes representing beams of light; mounting stud to the reverse; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 583 grams total, 17.5 cm including stand
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.
The cult of Helios-Apollo intensified in the third century A.D. and the adoration of Sol Invictus, with the radiate crown, was often linked to that of Mithras, the god of legions, whose symbol was the bull. Under Emperor Aurelian, the Sol Invictus became the main god, protector of Rome and the Roman state. -
Roman Decorated Bronze Bracelet
1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £78
Penannular type with leaf-shaped flattened ends, lines of pointillé detailing. 17.6 grams, 64 mm
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Romano-British Samian Ware Bowl Fragments
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Found UK. From the collection of a late East Anglian teacher and antiquarian who retired to the Isle of Wight in Hampshire, UK. He amassed a large collection of objects between the 1960s-1980s.