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CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
Details
A ROMAN GILT LEAD INKWELL
Circa 2nd Century A.D.
Cylindrical in form with projecting moldings at the rim and base, the body molded with a frieze in shallow relief depicting the Madness of Lycurgus, with a warrior moving left but looking right, nude but for a mantle around his legs, a spear in his raised right hand, a maenad fleeing to the right but looking back, a thyrsus in her raised left hand, to her right a diminutive woman on bended knee, looking right towards Lycurgus with his bearded head turned back, a billowing mantle over his shoulders, a weapon in his raised hands, a figure to the right emerging from the ground, its head turned back, and on the right a youth moving to the left, a spear in his hands, a figure with both arms raised behind him, all on a landscape filled with trees, the frieze framed above and below by beading and a band of ovolo, the upper surface of the rim with a bear facing a hound, and a lion facing a boar
2 3/8 in. (6 cm) high
Circa 2nd Century A.D.
Cylindrical in form with projecting moldings at the rim and base, the body molded with a frieze in shallow relief depicting the Madness of Lycurgus, with a warrior moving left but looking right, nude but for a mantle around his legs, a spear in his raised right hand, a maenad fleeing to the right but looking back, a thyrsus in her raised left hand, to her right a diminutive woman on bended knee, looking right towards Lycurgus with his bearded head turned back, a billowing mantle over his shoulders, a weapon in his raised hands, a figure to the right emerging from the ground, its head turned back, and on the right a youth moving to the left, a spear in his hands, a figure with both arms raised behind him, all on a landscape filled with trees, the frieze framed above and below by beading and a band of ovolo, the upper surface of the rim with a bear facing a hound, and a lion facing a boar
2 3/8 in. (6 cm) high
Provenance
Acquired at auction in London in the 1960s