Romano-Egyptian Mosaic Glass Fragments

Fragment of a tapestry or a fabric, white linen and brown wool, S twist, depicting three rows of black slingers, shields in right or left hands, marching in opposing positions towards a roundel decorated with images of marine animals. 40 grams total including package, 22.5 cm



Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016.

This embroidery was typical of tunics and garments characterised by full-length clavi, decorated with either intricate geometric patterns or with a multitude of small figures and animals, often edged with geometric borders and finished with thick, weft-loop fringes or cords.

Modelled in the round in a crouching pose on a rectangular base with an attachment peg. 145 grams, 73 mm



From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.

This figure most likely comes from a shrew coffin or votive statuette. The dwarf shrew (Crocidura nana) and Flower’s shrew (Crocidura floweri) were among many animal species buried in dedicated cemeteries across various parts of Egypt. Ironically, these tiny creatures symbolised Horus in his raptor-headed form — a figure who, in reality, would have preyed upon them. Shrews were associated with Khenty-irty, the “seeing-and-blind god,” due to their ability to navigate darkness. It may be possible to read the shrew’s symbolism as that of seeking light in darkness, representing the Egyptian belief in the deceased’s journey through the hours of the night before rebirth at dawn. Radiographic analysis of a bundle containing about twenty-one shrews shows that they were dried whole, with no evisceration, preserved by being ‘pickled’ in natron.

Comprising: a large fragment of a tunic with double segmenta in dark purple wool over linen, S torsion, formed by two parallel stripes, embroidered with kantharos and floral patterns, inscribed in tondos within bands with crenellated borders; a thin clavus connected to an orbiculus ending in an arrow shape, red purple and brown wool over linen, S torsion, embroidered with S shaped and lanceolate patterns. 207 grams total including package, 31-33.5 cm



Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016.

This type of embroideries were typical of tunics and garments characterised by full-length clavi, and segmenta, decorated with either intricate geometric patterns or floral and vegetal motifs. In Christian symbology, the kantharos was an ancient Greek wine cup that symbolised resurrection and eternal life through Christ.