Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 102*

A Roman polychrome fresco fragment

28 November 2017, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£5,000 - £8,000

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Antiquities specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A Roman polychrome fresco fragment
Circa 1st Century A.D.
The scene set in an interior, with a female and a male figure in conversation whilst resting on a bed or couch, the seated woman leaning towards the reclining male, with her right arm raised to her chest and the drapery of her himation falling from the elbow, the man's left arm supporting his nude chest, the right outstretched towards the woman, the background dusty pink, the furniture olive green, the scene set against an ochre and red ground, 45.3 x 42.7cm excl. frame

Footnotes

Provenance:
with Mathias Komor (1909-1984), New York.
Private collection, USA, acquired from the above in 1960s.
Anonymous sale; Bonhams, London, 1 May 2008, lot 235.
Private collection, USA, acquired at the above sale.

This intimate scene between a partially-clothed man and woman was either once part of a larger fresco group depicting a banquet, or shows a couple in the cubiculum (bedroom).

Additional information

Bid now on these items

A Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone with dedication inscription of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin

A small Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone inscribed for King Sin-Kashid of Uruk

A Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Hittite bronze helmet with pelta-shaped cheek-pieces

An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration

A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg

A Greek terracotta female figure with a bird perched on her shoulder