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ROMAN CHALCEDONY GEMSTONE PHALERA 3rd century AD A cut chalcedony gemstone phalera with four intersecting holes and a five-petalled rosette to the domed upper face, originally forming a part of a set mounted on leather straps. 40.6 grams, 44mm (1¾"). Very fine condition. £1,200 - 1,700 EUR 1,350 - 1,910 USD 1,640 - 2,320 Provenance From an important Austrian collection; formerly with Hermann Historica, Munich, Germany, auction 65, lot 299; in a private collection since the 1970s; accompanied by a scholarly note no.TL5327 by Dr Ronald Bonewitz.
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ROMAN BIFACIAL GNOSTIC MAGICAL GEMSTONE 3rd-4th century AD A jasper gemstone for a pendant with text and decoration; obverse with intaglio scene depicting a standing figure (the god Abrasax?) wearing muscled armour with pendants (pteryges) and feathered headdress holding a spear and offering a thyrsus(?) to a seated robed female with a distaff in her lap, wheel beside her foot, field and border with pseudo-Greek text comprising mainly repeated lambda ( ), mu (M), epsilon ( ) and alpha (A); chamfered rim with repeated digamma ( , F) and other symbols; reverse with similar pseudo-Greek legend in nine transverse lines with border. 6.99 grams, 32mm (1¼"). Very fine condition. £800 - 1,000 EUR 900 - 1,120 USD 1,090 - 1,370
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Provenance Property of a London lady, part of her family's collection; acquired in the 1970s. Literature See King, C.W., The Gnostics and their Remains, London, 1887; Bellermann, J.J., Versuch uber die Gemmen der Alten mit dem Abraxas-Bilde, Berlin, 181719; Betz, H.D., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells. Volume 1, University of Chicago Press, 1996. Footnotes A thyrsus was a fennel stalk covered with ivy, vines and leaves and topped with a pine cone. It was used in some ancient mystery religions as a sacred symbol. Gnosticism is a loose agglomeration of religious ideas and belief systems which originated in the first century AD in the eastern Mediterranean area, chiefly among Jewish sects including the followers of Christ. Aspects of many earlier religious traditions were combined to produce an intellectual environment in which direct knowledge of the divinity was considered achievable through study and esoteric insight.
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ROMAN STANDING BULL GEMSTONE 1st-2nd century AD An ellipsoid onyx plaque with reserved figure of a bull standing on a baseline with head raised. 1.83 grams, 19mm (¾"). Fine condition. £800 - 1,000 EUR 900 - 1,120 USD 1,090 - 1,370 Provenance Property of a London gentleman; formerly acquired before 1970. Footnotes Dr Bonewitz notes: 'Remarkable detail on the bull.'
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LARGE ROMAN RIBBED GREEN GLASS BOWL 1st century BC-1st century AD A pale green glass bowl with series of twenty tapering, raised ribs formed at regular intervals around the outer face; attractive iridescence over the interior and exterior surfaces; areas of translucence. 472 grams, 22cm (8¾"). Fine condition, repaired. £700 - 900 EUR 790 - 1,010 USD 960 - 1,230 Provenance Acquired by the current in 1998; formerly with Alexander Global Art Ltd. Literature See Harden, D., Masterpieces of Glass: The British Museum, London, 1968, item 52, for type.
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