Very Large Medieval and Later Iron Billhook Collection

Comprising eight spoons with shallow circular bowls, seven with a rectangular-section stem and one with a lentoid-section stem. 511 grams total, 15 cm



Acquired in the Netherlands in the 1990s. Ex Cambridgeshire, UK, gentleman. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Flat-section hoop with scrolled heart-shaped supports to the shoulders, ellipsoid bezel with inset cameo bust. 4.26 grams, 28.40 mm overall, 18.33 mm internal diameter (approximate size British P 1/2, USA 7 3/4, Europe 16.86, Japan 16)



with Archaeologia, Switzerland, before 1983. Ex private North American collection. London private collection, 2016.

With blue, yellow, white and green enamel, representing the Anastasis (Resurrection of Christ); the Saviour represented on two registers, in the upper one (Resurrection) emerging from the grave, surrounded by the hesychastic light, with the Roman soldiers falling asleep, and the apostles and a cherubin beside him; in the lower register (Descent into Hades) Christ surrounded by the same divine light, leading the people from the Limbo, Adam and Eve, King David and Salomon and other souls to heaven; the frame decorated with gilt arabesques on blue enamel, inscriptions in Old Slavonic at the top. 200 grams, 11 cm



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.

The iconography is typical of the Anastasis or Resurrection of Christ, with the gates of Hades broken under the feet of the Christ, echoing the phrase: 'Christ is Risen From the Dead, Trampling Down Death by Death, and Upon Those in the Tombs Bestowing Life!'