An Over Life-Size Powerful Roman Male Portrait Head of Constantine the Great

A Large European Carved Limestone Celtic Votive Head of a Male Warrior Wearing a Typical Flowing Moustache Small Beard and Curling Locks of Hair Stiffened with Lime Wash the Slit Mouth Open as if in Command Circa 1st Century BC - 1st Century AD Size: 31cm high, 22cm wide, 25cm deep - 12¼ ins high, 8¾ ins wide, 9¾ ins deep / 42cm high - 16½ ins high (with base) From about 500 BC, first Greek and later Roman historians mention peoples living in a large area of non-mediterranean Europe as Celts. These classical chroniclers seem to have recognised these communities as having sufficient shared cultural traditions to justify their being given a common name, ‘Keltoi’ by the Greeks, and ‘Celtae’ or ‘Galli’ by the Romans. The earliest allusions to Celts by such Greek historians as Herodotus (485 - 425 BC) were followed by Polybius (200 - 118 BC) and Livy (59 BC - AD 17) who discuss the expansion of the Celts from their central European homelands during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. They document the presence of Celts in Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Asia Minor, specifically central Turkey. They testify to the successful Roman resistance to the Celts in Italy, after the ignominy of the sacking of Rome by them in 387 BC, and describe the huge defeat suffered by the Celts at the battle of Telemon in northern Italy in 225 BC. The Celts in Greece who sacked the sacred site of Delphi in 279 BC were defeated by King Antigonos Gonatas of Macedon in 278 - 277 BC and in Turkey by Altalus of Pergamon in 240 BC. The Celts in Spain fell under the shadow of Rome from 2nd Century BC and the Celtic heartland known by the Romans as ‘Gaul’ was conquered by the Romans under Julius Caesar in the mid 1st Century BC. Britain was not referred to as Celtic by the ancient historians, but Caesar recognised the close similarities between Britain and Gaul especially in their political organisation. Tacitus (55 - 120 AD) and others chronicled the conquest of Britain between 43 and 84 AD some mentioning the fierce nature of the Celts who went into battle naked. Celtic art therefore belongs to an artistic tradition in the early history of Europe which is no less important than that of the classical world. Art was central to Celtic identity and was closely related to the objects which it decorated. The Celts were used to seeing art as an integral part of their everyday lives. Provenance: Ex Finch and Co...

A Very Rare and Important Marble Relief of the ‘Resurrection of Christ’ Attributed to the Master of the Mascoli Altar Marble Venice, Italy Second half of the 15th Century SIZE: ...

A Polychrome and Parcel-Gilt Marble Group of the Virgin and Child Attributed to Giovanni Di Balduccio (1317 - 1349) Marble Italy Circa 1330 - 1340 SIZE: 65cm high, 28cm wide - 25½ ins high, 11 ins wide PROVENANCE: Possibly Trivolzio Collection, Milan With Piero Tozzi Inc., New York Acquired by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation for The Los Angeles County Museum (A.5832.47-42), 1947 An auction of property de-accessioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to benefit new acquisitions...

An Unusual and Rare English ‘Memento Mori’ Carved Shrine with Two Human Skulls to the underside, a carved ‘Dragonfly’ Marble 16th / 17th Century England Size: 36cm high, 28cm w...

A Fine Large Wedgwood Black Basalt Library Bust of the Ancient Greek Epic Poet Homer Impressed Wedgwood Mark 1780–1812 Early 19th Century Size: 59cm high – 23¼ ins high Provenance: Ex Finch and Co...

A Hellenistic Funerary Stele in High Relief with Two Male Heads Marble Greek Hellenistic Circa 2nd Century BC Size: 20.5cm high, 38cm wide, 11cm deep - 8 ins high, 15 ins wide, 4...

Life size antique marble bust of a male in the classical Roman style wearing a toga. Carved in pure white statuary Carrara marble. Signed and dated “W. Theed Sc, Copio 1872” ...

Standing over two and a half metres tall, this sculpture is truly exceptional—an unusual, and remarkable, statement piece. The sculpture features a standing female figure, her dress ...

A Roman style gesso over plaster carved head of the god Jupiter on circular base. Emanating the grandeur of ancient Rome, this verist representation of the god Jupiter, intricately c...

Roman Marble Head of Sophocles Circa 1st-2nd Century Marble This fine Roman marble head preserves the proper left side of the face of a middle-aged man, with broad nose, soft lips, and bearded chin. The short beard and sideburns have been finely carved with a flat chisel, to render the soft, wavy strands of hair. The cheekbone, undereye, and nasolabial folds have been delicately modelled in the marble by a skilled hand. In a letter from 1975, the former director of Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, suggested that the head could depict the Ancient Greek tragedian Sophocles. Few figures in the Classical world stand aside Sophocles (c. 496-406 BC), inarguably the best known of the Athenian tragedians, in terms of the impact his works have had on the history of art and literature. The psychological depth he achieves in the seven of the 123 of his plays that have survived to the present day - most notably the three Theban plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus - not only inspired the Athenians, among whom Sophocles was honoured as a hero long after his death, but in our own time, have provoked landmark works on phychoanalysis and literary criticism, by thinkers like René Girard and, most famously, Sigmund Freud. In its masterful treatment of the marble this fragment sensitively captures the features of one of the most important playwrights of all time. Height on stand: 7.9 inches (20 cm). Provenance: Collection of Danish sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau...

Stucco head of a Roman figure. Signed on the back (unknown). The head is separate from the base.

Bust of Lucius Venus made of moulded and carved limestone, following models of classical Rome. It is solid stone. It is part of a series of 8 copies distributed exclusively by our g...