We found 166820 price guide item(s) matching your search
There are 166820 lots that match your search criteria. Subscribe now to get instant access to the full price guide service.
Click here to subscribe- List
- Grid
-
166820 item(s)/page
Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 3rd century CE. A beautiful pottery amphora with ribbed body, constricted rim, and applied handles from the rim to the shoulder. The base is rounded. The accumulation of sea life on its body is mostly white, with some startling flashes of bright purple. Comes with custom stand. Size: 12.5" W x 18" H (31.8 cm x 45.7 cm); height on stand: 19.5" (49.5 cm).Lacking its cork and pitch stopper, the original contents of this amphora are unknown; based on the globular size and shape, it was most likely used to transport olive oil (smaller ones were for stewed fruit or salted fish, while larger ones were used for wine). Amphorae formed the basis of the Roman economy as storage vessels for transporting goods throughout the Empire, with examples found from North Africa to Britain. The pointed base on this one is standard, and was intended for storage in Roman warehouses in soft ground and for transport on ships by placing it through a specially-designed rack and roping it through the handles to others. This vessel was found in the sea and bears evidence of that in the form of barnacles and other white deposits on its body; it came from North Africa, a major site of olive oil production (alongside Spain and France) in the Roman economy. This oil was used for cooking, lighting, and, in some cases, bathing; one estimate suggests that each Roman legion consumed 1370 amphorae of olive oil per year! Provenance: Ex-Private New York Collection; Ex-New York Collector GF Condition: Large areas of the surface have sea encrustation and calcifications. All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience. #120897
Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 3rd century BCE. A large bronze oil lamp with a nautical theme. Two women's busts in the style of a ship's figurehead project from the short sides of the elongated bowl. Two youths, standing, nude aside from laurel wreaths, and holding large kilikes (wine drinking vessels) form the hooks for twin chains for suspension. The linked chains are hooked onto twin dolphins whose tails join together; above them is an additional long chain terminating in a large loop. Size: 7" L x 10.2" W x 26.5" H (17.8 cm x 25.9 cm x 67.3 cm).Cast using the lost-wax process, this piece displays the technical prowess of Roman artisans. This piece, made of precious metal, would have been an expensive and treasured item, perhaps an heirloom. The design has a rich iconography, much of it relating to the nautical. The ship's figurehead-style women may be goddesses; the Romans favored military, mythological, or monstrous figureheads on their ships. The dolphins, meanwhile, remind us of a powerful and common motif in Roman artwork. The Romans were in part a maritime empire, and the iconography of the sea included dolphins, who they seem to have believed carried souls to the Fortunate Isles, perhaps because they could pass through the air-breathing terrestrial world and into the watery depths that claimed so many Roman sailors' lives. The youths, meanwhile, are not explicitly nautical, but their drinking vessels suggest that they may be at a Symposium, a drinking party for the wealthy. Perhaps this lamp belonged to a family who had become wealthy through maritime trade or naval prowess.See a similar example at the Harvard Art Museum (1990.71). Provenance: Ex-private east coast, USA collection Condition: Intact, with functional chains. Dark green patina overall. All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience. #120617
Magna Graecia, South Italy, Tarantum, ca. 5th c. BCE. A mold-made ornamental element for the roof of a temple presenting a relief of a female face with almond-shaped eyes beneath arched brows, a prominent nose, and heart-shaped lips, this striking visage magically emerging from an acanthus leaf. Her flowing tresses suggest that this figure may represent a Maenad (Bacchante) - literally the "raving ones", these purportedly wild women accompanied Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry. Custom stand. Size: 6.5" W x 9.25" H (16.5 cm x 23.5 cm); 11.5" H (29.2 cm) on standRoof tiles that ran along the eaves of ancient Greek and Etruscan buildings often ended in upright, painted, mold-made terracotta members called antefixes which usually took the form of either human or mythological heads. These antefixes had three functions. First, they concealed the termini of convex tiles and thus protected them from bad weather. In addition, they were part of the architectural decoration. Finally, these visages were believed to possess an apotropaic role, fending off evil and bad luck from temples.Note: a Roman terracotta antefix that depicts an acanthus leaf only (no human or mythological face) sold for $4,000 at Christie's New York (4 June 2015, Sale 3748, lot 82). Keep in mind that our example was created in the Greek colony of Tarentum several centuries earlier and features an attractive female visage as well as an acanthus leaf. Provenance: Ex-private New York collection, ex-private Connecticut collection Condition: Ample white pigment remains and earth deposits on the surface. Expected wear commensurate with age. Repaired from 3 to 5 pieces. All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience. #120907
A set of six Georgian small wine glasses, the cup bowls with lower diamond and step cutting, on a flattened knopped stem and plain foot with ground pontil, 10.7cm. high; together with a set of five matching port glasses, 10.1cm. high; and a matched set of four liqueur glasses, with diamond and petal cut cup bowls and bladed knopped stems, 8.1cm. high. (15)
Two late Georgian rummers, one with diamond cut central band above blaze cut section, on disc knopped stem with stepped circular foot with notched cuts to edge, 5in. (12.7cm.) high; the second with a narrow band of small diamond design above a graduated diamond decoration, on short column stem with circular foot, 4¾in. (12.1cm.) high; together with a Georgian pedestal bowl with turnover rim and faceted cut central area on stepped dome and square foot, 5¾in. (14.5cm.) high; a Georgian diamond cut wine glass on disc knopped stem with wide circular foot serrated cut to underside, 4in. (10.2cm.) high; and two 19th century cut glass jugs. (6)
An Elizabeth II silver mounted cut glass claret jug, Cooper Brothers & Sons Ltd., Sheffield 1978, of baluster form with diamond and prismatic cutting, the silver mount with chased decoration, mask spout and dragon capped scroll handle, 11¾in. (30cm.) high; together with a George V silver wine goblets, James Dixon & Sons, Sheffield 1917. (2)
-
166820 item(s)/page