Skip to main content
Bonhams
Search

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

An Anatolian marble idol
A Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone with dedication inscription of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

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
A Babylonian agate "eye-stone" bead, inscribed for Nebuchadnezzar II
A large Etruscan Impasto Ware pottery olla
A Roman marble torso of a youth wearing a tunic
A Roman marble head of a satyr
An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration
A Greek bronze horse
A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg
A Greek green glazed faience hedgehog aryballos
A Greek bronze hydria with siren handle-plate
A Greek terracotta figure of a woman
A Greek terracotta female figure with a bird perched on her shoulder
An Etruscan terracotta antefix of a satyr
An Etruscan bronze woman possibly dancing
An Etruscan bronze candelabrum
An Etruscan terracotta votive life-size left leg
An Attic black-figure Little Master band-cup with grazing deer and panther
An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo
An Attic red-figure trefoil lipped oinochoe
An Attic black-figure lekythos
A European bronze dirk blade
Previous Lot
Next Lot
A Roman haematite magical gem image 1
A Roman haematite magical gem image 2
Lot 210

A Roman haematite magical gem

Antiquities
3 July 2019, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £637.50 inc. premium

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 haematite magical gem
Circa 4th Century A.D.
The obverse with lion-headed Anguipes wearing a mantle, his legs in the form of coiled snakes, holding a whip in his right hand and a rectangular shield in his left, the porpax visible, a swastika in the field, the reverse with a three-line inscription reading στομάχου, stomachou, 'for the stomach', 3cm long

Footnotes

Provenance:
Major James Findlay (1915-1990) collection, Aberdeen, acquired in the 1950s-1960s; and thence by descent.
Sold to benefit Archway, a respite care and housing charity in Aberdeen, charity no. SCO14665.

In ancient Rome, magic gems were used as protective amulets and talismans of good fortune; the present lot was evidently intended to alleviate or cure stomach ailments. The obverse depicts Anguipes, a hybrid zoomorphic divinity commonly found on such gems. For a near-identical gem, see the British Museum, London, acc. no. 1986,0501.106.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

An Anatolian marble idol
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
A Babylonian agate "eye-stone" bead, inscribed for Nebuchadnezzar II
A large Etruscan Impasto Ware pottery olla
A Roman marble torso of a youth wearing a tunic
A Roman marble head of a satyr
An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration
A Greek bronze horse
A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg
A Greek green glazed faience hedgehog aryballos
A Greek bronze hydria with siren handle-plate
A Greek terracotta figure of a woman
A Greek terracotta female figure with a bird perched on her shoulder
An Etruscan terracotta antefix of a satyr
An Etruscan bronze woman possibly dancing
An Etruscan bronze candelabrum
An Etruscan terracotta votive life-size left leg
An Attic black-figure Little Master band-cup with grazing deer and panther
An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo
An Attic red-figure trefoil lipped oinochoe
An Attic black-figure lekythos
A European bronze dirk blade