Mississippian culture, 8th-15th century AD. A group of six buffalo calling stones of various sizes deposited in a cache by native American Indians; the Blackfoot called these fossil stones 'buffalo stones' because they look like sleeping bison. 4.73 grams total, 9-16mm (1/4 - 3/4"). From the private collection of Dr. Matt Vos; found together in single deposit in Oktibbeha County, Mississipi, USA, 1976. Cf. Von Adrienne Mayor Fossil Legends of the First Americans, fig 69; Peck, Trevor R. Plains Anthropologist 2002, vol.47, no.181, p.147-164. . Considered by American Indians of the western plains to be charms that would ensure success while hunting buffalo. Blackfoot respondents reported to anthropologists that these stones appear in their owners' dreams. Very fine condition. [6]
We found 74924 price guide item(s) matching your search
There are 74924 lots that match your search criteria. Subscribe now to get instant access to the full price guide service.
Click here to subscribe- List
- Grid
-
74924 item(s)/page
Early 19th century AD. A tall bronze piriform jar with flared base, collar to the neck, everted rim; the surface painted with a background of dense foliage and reserved polychrome panels depicting female busts, flowers, perching birds, scenes of armed men fighting and hunting lions. 3.6 kg, 49cm (19 1/4"). Fine condition, some abrasion and usage wear. Private collection, London, UK; formerly with Persepolis Gallery, Mayfair, London, UK; in the 1980s. From their roots as a Turkmen tribe of shepherd-warriors centered in Azerbaijan, the Qajar Dynasty would become a fully assimilated Perso-Islamic monarchy that reunified Persia and, through their modernisation programs, laid the foundation for the modern nation-state now known as Iran. The Central Asian origins of the Qajar dynasty are illustrated through the art of the time which draws on themes popular among the nomadic people of the area as well as traditional Islamic patterns and designs. The Qajar period is now increasingly recognised as a time of significant change in Persian society. Perhaps the most obvious influence was the impact of Western ideas and technology, which accompanied the diplomats, military and technical advisers, merchants, travellers, and missionaries who flocked into 19th-century Persia. Qajar art is characterised by an exuberant style and flamboyant use of colour, which became more emphatic as the 19th century progressed; here Persian art may be compared with developments in 19th-century Europe, where technological mastery made virtuoso forms of decoration possible. A particularly important feature of Qajar art is the richness of its iconography. Flowers (especially roses and irises), foliage, and fruit function both as central and supporting motifs. There are views of pastoral landscapes and buildings mainly inspired by imported European illustrations. There are also many narratives. Nostalgia for Persia’s past is reflected in scenes of Sasanian rulers, traditional themes of Persian literature, and more recent battles with the Ottoman Turks and Mughals.
3rd-2nd millennium BC. A group of carved stone cylinder seals comprising: a red stone with a winged quadruple beast facing the sun; a black stone with kneeling anthropomorphic figure holding an axe, fighting a lion with widely opened jaw; a black stone with cuneiform inscription, a central scene with vessel and plants or snakes, triangular decoration to the border; a dark grey stone with two figures, one standing and pointing to the dancing or running figure; a white stone with two lines, lower line with two figures hunting(?"). a quadruple animal, the upper side possibly depicting a domestic scene with two figures; a white stone with a chariot pulled by a pair of horses, behind it a standing figure with raised hand holding an axe(?), a fish behind him. 56.37 grams total, 26-38mm (1 - 1 1/2"). Property of a North West London gentleman; formerly with a central London gallery in 1990. Fine condition. [6]
1st-4th century AD. A stone plaque with arched top and flat base; in the centre a wreath enclosing the image of Mithras wearing Phrygian cap, cloak billowing behind, kneeling on the back of a bull and plunging a dagger into its neck; to either side of Mithras' head the bust of Sol and Luna; to the left hand side of Mithras is Cautes holding a torch up, and to his right is Cautopates holding a torch down; below the bull a snake and scorpion, at the neck of the bull a dog; around the wreath a number of scenes relating to the myth of Mithras; traces of pigment. 6.24 kg, 25.5 x 30cm (9 3/4 x 12"). Property of a Finchley, London, UK gentleman; acquired from a sale in Denham, Oxfordshire, UK, in 2014. Cf. Clauss, M. The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries, London, 2001. Mithras had his origins in ancient Persia and was adopted by the Romans who developed a mystery cult around him based on salvation and the revealing of secrets. The cult was only open to men and was extremely popular with soldiers, with the majority of his shrines being associated with military sites, such as along Hadrians Wall. Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation through which the initiates moved. Initiates called themselves syndexioi, those united by the handshake which is based on the pact between Mithras and Sol. They met in underground temples, called Mithraea, which survive in large numbers; these were small buildings that imitated the cave in which Mithras slew the cosmic bull and where the members celebrated the rites of the god and shared a sacred communal meal. The majority of the information that we have about Mithraism comes from the reliefs, and other images, that have been found in the shrines. In every Mithraeum the centrepiece was a representation of Mithras killing a sacred cosmic bull, called the tauroctony, that was housed in a screen at the apse of the shrine; the tauroctony scene could also have other narrative images relating to the myth of the god. Mithras is shown wearing Persian clothes, such as a baggy tunic and trousers and wearing a Phrygian cap, and kneeling on the exhausted bull, holding it by the nostrils with his left hand, and stabbing it with his right. As he does so, he looks over his shoulder towards the figure of Sol. A dog and a snake reach up towards the blood that pours from the neck; a scorpion seizes the bull's genitals. A raven, the messenger of Sol, is flying around, or is sitting, on the bull. Three ears of wheat are seen coming out from the bull's tail, sometimes from the wound. The god is sitting on the bull in an unnatural way with his right leg constraining the bull's hoof and the left leg is bent and resting on the bull's back or flank. The two torch-bearers are on either side, dressed like Mithras, Cautes with his torch pointing up and Cautopates with his torch pointing down. The event takes place in a cavern, into which Mithras has carried the bull, after having hunted it, ridden it and overwhelmed its strength. Sometimes the cavern is surrounded by a circle, on which the twelve signs of the zodiac appear. Outside the cavern, top left, is Sol the sun, with his flaming crown, often driving a quadriga or depicted as a bust. A ray of light often reaches down to touch Mithras. At the top right is Luna, with her crescent moon, who may be depicted driving a biga, or again, as a bust. In some depictions, the central tauroctony is framed by a series of subsidiary scenes to the left, top and right, illustrating events in the Mithras narrative; Mithras being born from the rock, the water miracle, the hunting and riding of the bull, meeting Sol who kneels to him, shaking hands with Sol and sharing a meal with him, and ascending to the heavens in a chariot. The interpretation of the images is problematical due to the secrecy of the cult and the lack of literature relating to it. The slaying of the cosmic bull clearly has a beneficial role for mankind due to the life giving blood that is shed and the ears of corn that grow from the bull's tail. Some reliefs have been found with the paint surviving and show the inside of the cloak of Mithras decorated with stars, such as that from Marino, Italy . This, and the presence of the encircling zodiac signs, has been interpreted as relating to specific points in the year that were celebrated as key festivals and were depicted in a cryptic manner. Another theory is that the Mithraic mysteries began in the Graeco-Roman world as a religious response to the discovery by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus of the astronomical phenomenon of the precession of the equinoxes – a discovery that the entire cosmos was moving in a hitherto unknown way and interpreted as the existence of a powerful new god capable of shifting the cosmic spheres and thereby controlling the universe. Fine condition. Rare.
UNUSUAL LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY CONTINENTAL/BALTIC SILVER COVERstamped with mark 'I.B' plus four pictorial marks, several of the marks seen on Swedish silver of this period, possibly from Northern German or the Low Countries, ball finial, engraved with an elaborate hunting scene of a man chasing down a pack of hounds taking down a stag, also engraved with a large coat of arms; together with a matched bowl base, lacking hallmarks (altered to fit cover so hallmarks possibly erased), possibly late 18th/early 19th century english silver, engraved with a heraldic Wyvern, interior shelf rim, on three ball feet, approximately 327g gross, each 11.5cm in diameter
HAROLD FRANK WALLACE: STALKS ABROAD, BEING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SPORT OBTAINED DURING A TWO YEARS TOUR OF THE WORLD, 1908 1st edition, original cloth gilt worn + LIONEL EDWARDS & HAROLD FRANK WALLACE: HUNTING AND STALKING THE DEER, THE PURSUIT OF RED, FALLOW AND ROE DEER IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, 1927 1st edition, 4to, original cloth gilt + MICHAEL BRANDER (ED): THE INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SHOOTING, 1972 1st edition, 4to, original cloth, dust-wrapper (3)
LIONEL EDWARDS, 8 titles: MY SCOTTISH SKETCH BOOK, 1929, 1st edition, 16 coloured plates as called for; MY HUNTING SKETCH BOOK, 1930, 1st edition, 2 volumes, 15 coloured plates and 19 of 21 plates including 6 coloured; TALLY-HO BACK, 1931, 1st edition, 16 plates as called for; A LEICESTERSHIRE SKETCH BOOK, 1935, 1st edition, 8 coloured plates as called for; SPORT IN WAR, 1936 (75) numbered and signed, 6 coloured plates as list; THE DEVON AND SOMERSET STAG HOUNDS, 1936, 1st edition, 9 coloured plates as called for; A SPORTSMAN'S BAG, 1937 1st edition, 18 coloured plates as called for; MY IRISH SKETCH BOOK, 1938, 1st edition, 8 (of 9) coloured plates plus [CHARLES JOHNSON PAYNE "SNAFFLES"]: 'OSSES AND OBSTACLES, 1935 1st edition, 4to near uniform half green morocco, spines gilt in compartments (10)
SIR SAMUEL W BAKER: WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS, REMINISCENCES OF EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA AND AMERICA, London, MacMillan 1891 2nd edition, 455pp + 4pp publishers ads at end, original pictorial cloth gilt, together with another copy, London 1890 1st edition, volume 2 (of 2) only, original pictorial cloth gilt + EDWARD NORTH BUXTON: SHORT STALKS: OR HUNTING CAMPS NORTH, SOUTH, EAST AND WEST, London 1892, 1st edition, rebound cloth worn (3)
A mid 19th century Cobridge Ranger stoneware hunting jug by Edward Walley, moulded with scene of a huntsman with dogs and shotgun and opposing panel depicting two figures with horse and dogs, grapevine handle, applied lozenge to base, dated 10th May 1845, 23cm high and a pair of similar stoneware hunting mugs with moulded hunt scene and hound handle, 12cm high (3)
A large miscellaneous collection to include a substantial salt glazed stoneware flagon stamped Price, Bristol, an oil burning lamp with amber glass fount, a large salt glazed jug with hunting scene detail, metal wares to include an antique eastern copper two handled vessel of bulbous form, a similar bowl, a domestic lined copper frying pan with applied iron handle, a brass fireguard, etc
Miscellaneous items comprising an embossed brass coal box with shovel, a set of scales and weights, a copper kettle, various brass candlesticks, stoneware flagons and jars, silver plated wares, a pair of silver fiddle pattern sugar tongs, etc, together with a coloured print of a hunting scene after Lionel Edwards
A set of three 19th century coloured engravings after H. Alken of hunting scenes 28 x 40 cm, together with a coloured print of a seated man with lantern and spade, inscribed verso 'Jeffrey, Earthstopper to the Berkeley Hunt' 21 x 16 cm in black and gilt glass mount and gilt frame, a late 19th century etching after B.W Leader- 'The Toils of the Day are Over', and 'Ports and Cities of the World' 1927 published by the Globe Encyclopedia Company
A Doulton Lambeth jug with relief moulded and painted daisy head decoration above a blue border, with impressed mark to base, together with a Royal Doulton Salt glazed stoneware teapot with relief hunting scene and toper decoration and a Royal Doulton cachepot with moulded floral border, impressed mark to base and numbers 2683
A 20th century oil painting on canvas , still life with a vase of red poppies, indistinctly signed bottom right M. Kremnith? 32 x 42 cm in gilt frame, together with a 19th century watercolour of a landscape with cattle and ruined cottage in burrwood frame, four 19th century coloured engravings of horses in stable interiors, coloured print of a hunting scene, German etching, framed postcards relating to Chipping Campden and a cashbook
Loading...-
74924 item(s)/page