Tudor and Later Glass Fragments

Group of three, each with hieroglyphs to the underside; after the antique. 5.42 grams total, 16 mm each



Acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Formed as a cupboard with hinged door, decorative openwork backplate and an applied large question mark to the door; inside the cupboard a white enamelled skeleton with articulated fold-out legs and articulated jaw operated by lever from the rear. 5.39 grams, 40 mm (legs extended)



Property of a County Durham collector; acquired on the UK art market. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Iron flat-section shaft with three tiered cross-bars, the two lowest each with five iron lamp-bowls to the forward face; above, a U-shaped bar with a lamp bowl at each upper end; top of the shaft developing to an anthropomorphic torso with ellipsoid head and two narrow arms raised vertically; chain around the neck with hand-forged extinguishing spoon; mounted on a square base; Dogon, Mali, workmanship. 6.25 kg total, 132 cm including stand



From the private collection of Dr Hans-Joachim Koloss, Berlin, Germany, 1975-2002. Gorny & Mosch, Munich, Germany, auction 279, no.410. Accompanied by a copy of the Gorny & Mosch invoice and illustrated catalogue listing. Accompanied by a copy of the German cultural export licence. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

The figure is probably a Nommo a primordial ancestral spirit in Dogon cosmogony. A Nommo is usually considered to be amphibious, hermaphroditic and fish-like depicted in Dogon art with a humanoid upper torso, and a fish-like lower torso and tail.