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A Roman rock crystal amphoriskos image 1
A Roman rock crystal amphoriskos image 2
Lot 98

A Roman rock crystal amphoriskos

Antiquities
7 December 2021, 12:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£20,000 - £30,000

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A Roman rock crystal amphoriskos
Circa 1st Century B.C.-1st Century A.D.
The cylindrical neck with angled handles, the stepped shoulder of hexagonal cross-section, the body cut with triangular facets, the lower body with angular hexagonal carination and knop base, with a silver domed lid and triple suspension chains, probably later, amphoriskos 6.8cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
Jose de Albuquerque collection, Portugal, acquired in Munich prior to 1977.
with Rupert Wace Ancient Art, London, March 2015.

There is a faceted hexagonal rock crystal amphoriskos of the same form in the Getty Museum, object number 83.AN.331. Rock crystal bottles such as the above were used to hold valuable perfumed oils. Both the Greeks and Romans considered rock crystal to be a form of hardened ice; the Roman naturalist Pliny thought that the crystal came from snow. Its transparency made it highly prized and as a rare commodity that was very challenging to carve it was used only for luxury objects.

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
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A Babylonian agate "eye-stone" bead, inscribed for Nebuchadnezzar II
A large Etruscan Impasto Ware pottery olla
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A Roman marble head of a satyr
An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration
A Greek bronze horse
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