Early 1600s Antiquities

This hand-painted mercury thermometer/barometer dates from the first half of the 19th century. It was made by Bianchi, as can be read at the top of the thermometer. Very rare! Bart...

Ancient Greek mould-made terracotta antefix decorated with the female head of the Goddess Artemis Bendis. Western Greek, Italy, Taranto, early 4th century BC. Two small feathered win...

Art nouveau bronze statue, signed by the artist Joan Fortuny Monmany (1866-1918). The statue also bears a foundry mark and also the name of t...

Wrought iron coat of arms. Great quality.

Very nice hollow carved swan in the style of Madison Mitchell by Wild Fowler Decoy Factory Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Original cream white paint. Pe...

The Holy Bible With An Abridgement Of The Commentaries Of Scott And Henry Bound in full navy Morocco with the covers displaying open-tooled bordering details, an indented central ti...

Bronze statue of the goddess Neith, striding, her left foot extended forward. Her left hand is extended forward and formally held a papyrus sceptre, a fragmentary ankh is visible in her right hand. She wears a close-fitting sheath dress, incised with a broad usekh collar, and carefully engraved bracelets and armlets. On her head is the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, decorated with vertical striations and restored spiral and spire. Her face is finely molded, with a broad upturned nose and electrum-overlaid eyes and eyebrows. Neith was one of the earliest recorded gods in the Egyptian pantheon, worshipped from early in the Predynastic era through to the arrival of Roman rule. A war goddess and goddess of weaving, she was the patron goddess of the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and the city of Zau (Sais, in the 5th Nome of Lower Egypt) in the Delta. A powerful and popular goddess, she was, according to the Iunyt (Esna) cosmology, the creator of the world and the mother of the sun, Ra. This made her the mother of all of the gods, who often came to her to settle their disputes. Her symbols are the bow and arrows and a sword and shield as a war goddess, a weaving shuttle as a funerary goddess, and the Red Crown of Lower Egypt as the goddess of creation and mother goddess. She is usually depicted as a woman wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, however, she is occasionally depicted as a cow in connection with her role as the mother of Ra. The use of electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver sometimes called ‘green-gold’, for the eyes speaks to the high status of the object. Electrum had been used by the Egyptians since at least the 3rd millennium B.C., but, give its rarity, was reserved for the most expensive and important objects. Most electrum used in Egypt was imported from Nubia, though some was found there. Published: Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, February 25th, 1971, no. 70, illus. Sotheby’s, New York, June 5th, 1999, no. 31, illus. David Aaron Ltd...

Ancient pair of carved hardwood sculptures, depicting a pair of trotting horses, sculpted in the 19th century. They measure about W 7 x H 30 x T 30 cm.

A lovely pair of Roman gold earrings comprised of a delicate hoop, secured with a hook and eye closure, and adorned with a boss shield. The shield features ...

Beautiful set of four antique Bilboquets from France,around 1920, cup-and-bowl children toys in turned Beechwood, dark tinted, pretty patina, a set full of charm and authenticity ...

A female head finely carved from evenly-coloured cream alabaster. The face features a strong chin, high rounded cheekbones, and large elliptical eyes deeply inset for inlays. The remains of the nose indicate that it was long, thin, and roughly triangular in form. A small, round mouth sits just below the nose. Deeply incised eyebrows follow the shape of the eyes, which are framed by unusual grooved canthi on either side, possibly to represent cosmetic eye paint. The supraorbital margins above the eyes are deeply carved, while the carving below the eyes is more subtle, smoothing the sockets into the rounded cheeks. The ears are formed from two arcs and a central sphere, and both lobes are pierced for earrings. The long hair frames the face below the ears, and is carved to create a rougher texture. There is a stock sticker on the back of the neck. A fragment of the right shoulder remains. This suggests that the head was part of a larger sculpture, possibly a full figure (though this seems unlikely due to its relatively large scale) or, more likely, a bust. This head is stylistically aligned with those found at Timna, the capital of the ancient Yemeni kingdom of Qataban, which existed from the 1st millennium BC until the late 1st or 2nd centuries AD. Timna served as an important hub of the Incense Route, the camel caravan that transported incense from Arabia and India to ports on the Mediterranean Sea. Roman author and philosopher Pliny the Elder (23/24-79 AD) described Timna as a busy city with around 65 temples. Excavations in 1950 and 1951 by Wendell Phillips...

A matched pair of Byzantine gold hoop earrings with a hook and eye closure. These exquisite earrings have three spherical decorative elements suspended along each loop. At the centre, a ball with beading at its edges and at both sides, symmetrical attachments adorned with circular openwork decoration. The use of gold in Byzantine jewellery...