This magnificent bronze sculpture of a panther is a masterpiece of Roman naturalism. Her ferocious head has been rendered in a fashion characteristic of Roman felines. Her  More »

This magnificent bronze sculpture of a panther is a masterpiece of Roman naturalism. Her ferocious head has been rendered in a fashion characteristic of Roman felines. Her brows are clenched together as she snarls, her tongue dangling from her mouth and fangs exposed. Judging from this intimidating posture, we can assume she is attempting to defend herself or her offspring who would presumably rest nearby. Her body has been rendered with meticulous attention to detail such as her noticeable ribcage and swollen teats, a sign that she has been recently feeding her young. In a charming gesture, her tail gently arches downwards and wraps around one of her hind legs. Another interesting feature is that one of her front paws rests atop a small sphere, recalling the stances of Chinese “Foo Dogs.” Might this sphere symbolize the world and this panther the Roman Empire, protective and nurturing? - (X.0215)   « Less

This magnificent bronze sculpture of a panther and her young offspring is a masterpiece of Roman naturalism. Her ferocious head has been rendered in a fashion characteristic  More »

This magnificent bronze sculpture of a panther and her young offspring is a masterpiece of Roman naturalism. Her ferocious head has been rendered in a fashion characteristic of Roman felines. Her brows are clenched together as she snarls, head held high in the air with fangs exposed. We can almost hear her mighty roar. Judging from this intimidating posture, we can assume she is attempting to defend herself and her offspring who stands at her side in a similar posture, as if mimicking the mother. Her body has been rendered with meticulous attention to detail such as her swollen teats, a sign that she has been recently feeding her young. In addition, the texture of her fur has been replicated by a series of wavy engraved lines. The panther was considered sacred to the god of wine, Bacchus. The fact that this panther wears a harness with an attachment loop behind the neck indicates that she was meant to draw the chariot of Bacchus during his triumphant return from Asia, a popular scene that was often depicted on sarcophagi during the Roman era.   « Less

‘This Roman head is almost certainly an Imperial-period copy of a portrait of Cicero, and that if this is confirmed (as I am confident it will be), you will be in  More »

‘This Roman head is almost certainly an Imperial-period copy of a portrait of Cicero, and that if this is confirmed (as I am confident it will be), you will be in possession of only the fifth known and acknowledged head of Cicero. Cicero portraits are incredibly rare and if your portrait is confirmed as Cicero it will be the first ‘new’ Cicero portrait identified in more than a century…Your Roman bust most nearly resembles the ‘Capitoline Cicero’ in Rome- but now, in your version, idealized, smoothed out and ‘juvenated’ (so that Cicero now appears twenty years younger than in acknowledged portraits). But your bust also bears a striking resemblance to the Vatican, Apsley House and Uffizi heads, i.e. all the other acknowledged Cicero portraits.’ - (X.0395)   « Less

This marvelous Roman period ribbed glass bowl with white trail decoration is a delightful example of a style that was popular in the early principate. While glassmaking had  More »

This marvelous Roman period ribbed glass bowl with white trail decoration is a delightful example of a style that was popular in the early principate. While glassmaking had existed for two millennia prior to the Romans, having been pioneered by other cultures of the Mediterranean, it was not until the late Roman Republic that glassblowing was discovered as a method of mass-producing glass, and would stand as Rome’s great contribution to the art. Glass production flourished under the reign of Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, the method of glassblowing having been brought to Italy in this period. Originally, glass was a luxury item for the wealthy and this drove the industry to perfect more efficient and less expensive forms of mass-production. Glass blowing helped produce these conditions. The author Strabo wrote that by his time, a person could buy a glass cup for the cost of a copper coin. Nevertheless, there was always a demand for high quality glass and items like the present bowl exemplified the masterful techniques of the Romans in which a multitude of colors could be incorporated in a blown vessel.   « Less

This marvelous Roman period splashed glass flask is a delightful example of a style that was popular in the early principate. While glassmaking had existed for two millennia  More »

This marvelous Roman period splashed glass flask is a delightful example of a style that was popular in the early principate. While glassmaking had existed for two millennia prior to the Romans, having been pioneered by other cultures of the Mediterranean, it was not until the late Roman Republic that glassblowing was discovered as a method of mass-producing glass, and would stand as Rome’s great contribution to the art. Glass production flourished under the reign of Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, the method of glassblowing having been brought to Italy in this period. Originally, glass was a luxury item for the wealthy and this drove the industry to perfect more efficient and less expensive forms of mass-production. Glass blowing helped produce these conditions. The author Strabo wrote that by his time, a person could buy a glass cup for the cost of a copper coin. Nevertheless, there was always a demand for high quality glass and items like the present bowl exemplified the masterful techniques of the Romans in which a multitude of colors could be incorporated in a blown vessel.   « Less

Vitellius - full name Aulus Vitellius Germanicus - was born in 24 AD and ruled before eight months of 69 AD, the end of his short reign coinciding with his violent demise.  More »

Vitellius - full name Aulus Vitellius Germanicus - was born in 24 AD and ruled before eight months of 69 AD, the end of his short reign coinciding with his violent demise. This was a highly significant year in Roman history, the "Year of the Four Emperors" Galba, Otho and Vespasian also came to grief either politically or literally. While remembered with mixed sentiments by history, he has been rather harshly treated by his biographers, all of whom were linked to with his enemies.Vitellius was the son of Lucius Vitellius, who had been consul and governor of Syria under Tiberius. Vitellius Jr was consul in 48 and proconsul of Africa, in which capacity he is said to have acquitted himself with credit. He was elevated to command the army of Germania Inferior, where Vitellius made himself popular with his inferiors by outrageous prodigality and excessive good nature, followed by an inevitable slide in terms of order and discipline. This, perhaps, is the aspect of demeanour for which he is best remembered, being lazy, debauched and self-indulgent. However, his supporters Caecina and Valens guaranteed his elevation to emperor when they refused to renew their vows of allegiance to Emperor Galba on January 1 69, leading to his proclamation as emperor at Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). Technically, he was only emperor of the armies of Germania Inferior and Superior, followed by the armies of Gaul, Brittania and Raetia. However, this essential usurpation of power was a serious problem for Rome, for as was ever the case he who controlled the Roman army controlled the world.   « Less

This Roman marble bust portrays the Greek goddess Tyche (by her Greek name; and known to the Romans as Fortuna). She faces the viewer with a regal attitude, confident and  More »

This Roman marble bust portrays the Greek goddess Tyche (by her Greek name; and known to the Romans as Fortuna). She faces the viewer with a regal attitude, confident and serene, prepared to receive the obeisance and veneration owed her. Atop her head, she wears the classical crown associated with the goddess Tyche, often depicted as turreted. Her hair is parted at the middle and swept back, divided in long plaits. Scholars have gradually come to realize that most ancient Greek and Roman statues were actually painted in lifelike detail to increase their realism. But since most of this sculpture has arrived in our hands denuded by the ages of its original pigments, many simply assumed that classical tastes preferred bare marble, an assumption that sparked a trend within neo- classical artistic schools of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. And so despite the absolutely impeccable and simplistic beauty of such sculpture in its unadorned state, we can only imagine what her countenance must have looked like when it was new, with lifeline pupils staring through the hearts of her supplicants, her red lips appearing ready to speak a benediction, and her generous Italic eyebrows framing her eyes and replicating an expression of beauty that was certainly common throughout the ancient Mediterranean. Even in this bust’s unadorned state, her countenance is the embodiment of beauty through perfect proportion.   « Less

This Roman Imperial gold signet ring bears the image of what is most probably the Emperor Hadrian. The curly hair and full beard is characteristic of hairstyles during his  More »

This Roman Imperial gold signet ring bears the image of what is most probably the Emperor Hadrian. The curly hair and full beard is characteristic of hairstyles during his reign. He also wears a corona, most likely made of laurel leaves, evocative of auspicious occasions, holidays and military honors. The custom of employing engraved and inlaid gems was occasionally substituted with using intaglios of glass, as in the case of the present item.Intaglio signet rings were used as seals for documents sent by the wearer, and as such verified the identity of the sender and the veracity of the document. A symbol representing the household or office of the wearer was usually inscribed in the surface of the gem, sometimes even a portrait of the wearer, if appropriate. This one may have belonged to a steward from the emperor’s household, or perhaps even the emperor himself.The intaglio is inlaid in a gold setting. The quality of the portraiture, having survived well, other than one crack down the horizontal equator of the portrait, is still eminently visible, depicting the emperor facing right, and preserving great detail in the rendering of the locks of his hair and the curls of his beard. Such an object might have touched countless documents and letters sent by the emperor himself, or at least his most trusted servants. The historical importance of a piece such as this cannot be overstated.Reference: H. B. Walters, Catalogue of the Engraved Gems and Cameos, Greek, Etruscan and Roman, in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1926), #2036, 2037, 2047. - (X.0560)   « Less

The history of glass making before the Industrial revolution can be separated in two stages: in the first, which began in the 3rd millennium BCE and ended in the period from  More »

The history of glass making before the Industrial revolution can be separated in two stages: in the first, which began in the 3rd millennium BCE and ended in the period from 100 to 50 BC, craftsmen discovered how to transform raw materials into glass and how to make vessels and other objects either with moulds or by forming a molten glass around a removable core. Both techniques were labour-intensive and were seldom made in big quantities. In the second stage, beginning in the 1st century CE in the Syro-Palestinian region, glass workers found that molten glass could be formed by inflation and manipulation with tools. Glass blowing enabled them to make quickly a wide range of shapes, thus widening its market.However, after the 2nd century CE, glass is generally found in a more confined area. The change appears to have taken place under the Flavian Emperors (69-96 CE), an era that in many ways represents a watershed in the history of glass making. It is from this time onwards that glassblowing in the East and the West developed along independent lines, the only exception being fine tableware decorated with special techniques, which was probably due to the still unifying factor of the Roman Imperial administration.Yet, the most prolific period in the history of glass in the Eastern Mediterranean was during the late Roman Empire, when Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Cyprus, Asia Minor and the north Pontic region all had flourishing glass industries. With the increased demand for glass, regionalism became the dominant factor in the production of glass vessels. Marked regional differences existed not only between the glass made in Syria, Jordan and Palestine, but even between different parts of Palestine (inland vs coast; Galilee and Phoenicia vs Judea). The glass industries of these regions experienced a prolonged period of growth, and the late Roman and early Byzantine period were by far the most important not only in terms of absolute output but also in terms of typologies used. Only during this period, glass was finally used by different strata of societies, sometimes even replacing pottery for certain functions.The rise of the Syro-African emperors in Rome, the dynasty of the Severi (193-212 CE) brought a higher level of prosperity to Syria. The Severi hailed from Emesa (modern Hom) and the close connection with Rome benefited the glass industries and its workers, who seemed to have moved freely between East and West, some of them even settling as far as the Rhyneland.The small jar is made of a transparent pale olive glass with similarly coloured handles, the rim rounded in flame with narrow cut-out collar, funnel mouth, gently sloping shoulder, squat bulbous body, slightly kicked base. Three quite studry coil handles, each applied to the shoulder, attached to the edge of the rim and pressed down against edge of collar. On the exterior, remians of buff layers of weathering, iridescence and surface pitting.The small jar is made of a transparent pale olive glass with similarly coloured handles, the rim rounded in flame with narrow cut-out collar, funnel mouth, gently sloping shoulder, squat bulbous body, slightly kicked base. Three quite studry coil handles, each applied to the shoulder, attached to the edge of the rim and pressed down against edge of collar. On the exterior, remians of buff layers of weathering, iridescence and surface pitting.In terms of forms, both Syria and Palestine between the 3rd and 5th century developed an unrivalled diversity of individual shapes, including characteristic jars such as the one here illustrated, whose shape remained largely unknown in the West. In the Syro-Palestine area this type of glass jars was widely used in the late Roman and Byzantine periods. The body was usually bulbous and flat-bottomed or with a slightly concave base. Many jars also featured a relatively tall funnel mouth with just below the edge of the rim a decorative rim coil or cut-out fold, also known as projecting roll or cut-out collar rim.The presence of the projecting roll in our jar is an indication that the vessel was not used for drinking or pouring liquids, because the open fold would have trapped the liquid. Its use is still debatable but a plain, two-handled jar with a projecting roll below the rim, discovered in a burial a Giv'at Sharet, Israel, indeed contained traces of cannabis, used in antiquity for medicinal purposes. On the other hand, evidence from an Egyptian excavation, would purport the idea of a more mundane usage as tableware.   « Less

This gorgeous Roman gold sculpture of a nude woman surely represents Venus. Ancient goddess of love, Venus appears before us, a beautiful gold statuette created by a skilled  More »

This gorgeous Roman gold sculpture of a nude woman surely represents Venus. Ancient goddess of love, Venus appears before us, a beautiful gold statuette created by a skilled Roman artist. One of the twelve Olympians, Venus (known to the Greeks as Aphrodite) was one of the most celebrated deities of the ancients, known as the goddess of beauty, mother of love, queen of laughter, mistress of the graces and of pleasures, patroness of courtesans. In this fine gold sculpture, she stands in a typically recognizable pose associated with Venus, her torso exposed and her legs held tightly together, partially wrapped in a drapery that she holds in place with her right hand, expressing a modicum of modesty while displaying her inexplicable beauty. Her hair is swept back and a diadem crowns her head, she is slender and has elegant and sparingly formed breasts, This delicate sculpture captures all the grace and beauty of Venus.Roman religion often witnessed individuals keeping small shrines to particular divinities in their domiciles, for personal devotional worship. A sculpture such as this one represents the pinnacle of Roman individual devotional activity, due to the expensive nature of the material, most probably being a possession of a very wealthy individual who wished to express his or her devotion to the goddess of love. When we touch this object, we touch the repository of the hopes and dreams – ubiquitously human traits – of a person from long ago. We are reminded that that health and happiness and other hopes and dreams cannot be bought with money are the province of the gods and their providence. - (X.0680)   « Less