Tudor Bronze Purse Bar

Discoid in plan with lip to underside, central low-relief motif of a laureate and draped Roman-style bust with a nimbate lion of St. Mark, within a band inscribed 'TERIACA F ALLA TESTA DORO IN VENET'; all within outer band containing laurel wreath. 31 grams, 45 mm



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

Theriaca or ‘Venice treacle’ was a medicinal compound used since the time of Mithradates VI of Pontus as an antidote against any poisonous bite.

Depicting Saint Zosima and Saint Sabbas in front of the Solovetsky Monastery, both nimbate and dressed in the Abbot’s garments, holding the model of the monastery offered to God, represented in the sky as a dove upon a cloud; arabesque frame; inscriptions in Old Slavonic with the names of the saints. 108 grams, 88 mm



Acquired from Chris Martin-Zakheim, Iconastas, 5 Piccadilly Arcade, London SW1. From the private collection of a West London, UK, gentleman, formed since the early 2000s.

Saints Zosima and Sabbas or Sabbatius were highly venerated Orthodox saints, founders of the Solovetsky Monastery, a fortified monastery located in the White Sea in Northern Russia. This double portrait shows Zosima and Sabbas holding up a model of their religious institution, which resembles a small medieval city. Solovetsky Monastery obtained big investments from the city of Novgorod and established itself as one of the richest monasteries in Russia.

Engraved with the owner's initials ‘B G’ above a tilting shield with flanche; merchant's mark motif of capital 'A' and a cross. 20.03 grams, 28.33 mm overall, 23.00 x 18.47 mm internal diameter (approximate size British T 1/2, USA 9 3/4, Europe 21.89, Japan 21)



Private collection, Europe. Acquired on the English art market. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13051-248349.

Merchants' marks were chosen by their owners as a form of personal cypher, and so it is almost impossible to decipher the owner of many merchants' marks, as they were not governed by the strict regulation and recording that heraldry laws dictated. Merchants' rings were engraved with geometric symbols used to mark their goods or personal belongings and used instead of a coat of arms for those not entitled to them. Most merchants in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had marks, easily identifiable and formed with a few strokes. Many such rings also bear religious or talismanic inscriptions or imagery, combining a spiritual with a commercial function. The shape of the shield on this example draws direct parallels to the heraldic shields and jewels of this period in Germany.