Icons, Russian Pictures and Works of Art Day of Sale Friday 30th November 1990 at 10.30 am (lots 1-218) and 2.00 pm (lots 219-566) In the Conduit Street Gallery 1-2 St George Street, London W1 On view Monday 26th to Thursday 29th November 1990 from 9.00 am to 4.30 pm Special Viewing Sunday 25th November 1990 From 12 noon to 4.00 pm In sending absentee bids this catalogue may be referred to as ‘‘FeLiciry”” Catalogue £15.00 at the gallery, £18.00 by mail UK, £21.00 overseas Auctioneers of Literary Property and Works Illustrative of the Fine Arts New Bond Street, London WIA 2AA Telephone (071) 493 8080 Telex: 24454 sPuLonc Fax: (071) 409 3100 Registered at the above address No. 874867 ‘THIS SALE 18 SUBJECT TO THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED [AT THE BACK OF THIS CATALOGUE AND TO RESERVES Yo432 ‘An Early Byzantine Bronze Oil Lamp, circa 6th century, of trefoil shape, suspended on three chains from a Greek cross of pommé form with flared arms, which is in its turn surmounted by a hook, height 45cm. ‘The flat base of this lamp, which is ornamented with concentric grooving, indicates that it could either be used as a standing lamp, or suspended. For crosses and chains of similar form, related to polycandelon, see the catalogue Splendeurs de By: Musées Royaux d'Art et d’Histoire, Brussels, 1982, pp. 162-3 See also Y Petsopoulos (Ed.), East Christian Art, London, 1987, pp. 26-7. Excavated bronzes of the same date are illustrated in Sumer Atasoy et al., The Anatolian Civilizations, Istanbul, 1983 433 ‘A Byzantine Silver Paten, circa 600 AD, repoussé in high relief with the three figures of Christ, P Paul around an altar prepared for the distribution of the Eucharist; the altar is covered with a short cloth upon which stand two chalices and a circular loaf of bread stamped with a grid pattern, behind the altar, at the centre of the composition, Christ holds a third chalice for eucharistic wine; He extends His right hand, presumably offering eucharistic bread to Paul on the left Peter and Paul are shown with hands outstretched, facing in three quarter view to the centre, diameter 25.8cm. The fragmentary object may be reconstructed as a church Paten, with hammered flat base and raised sides, For similar decorative layout of paired incised lines enclosing a decorative image, compare two Patens from Syria, see M. Mundell Mango Silver from Early Byzantium. The Kepor Koraon and related Treasures Baltimore, 1986, nos. 60 and 64. The form ofthe lines, approximate to those of a third paten with control stamps dated 574-8 AD (ibid., no. 36). ‘A related subject in repoussé figural decoration appears on the Riha and Stuma silver patens, both found together in Syria, and with stamps, dated 577 and 574-8 respectively (ibid., nos. 3 “The paten is closely related in iconography and style to a group of Byzantine silver objects and manus dated to the period 570-650. ‘The communion scene is unique in that instead of showing the Twelve Apostles, only Peter and Paul are represented. The depiction of three chalices is also unique. Pre-iconoclastic versions of the C the Apostles are all associated with Syria, and are of two types: i) On the above mentioned Riha and Stuma Pa well as in the contemporary Rossano Gospels, appears twice distributing bread and wine to two groups of six Apostles led, in all three cases, by Paul and Peter ii) In the Rabbula Gospels (586 AD), Christ, asa single figure, dispenses wine to only ten Apostles standing on the left. The altar appears only on the Patens. See W.C Loerke, The Rossano Gospels: The Miniatures in Codex Purpureus Rossanensis, Rome 1988, pp. 134-138, and Mundell Mango, ibid., nos. 34-35 A similar grid-stamped loaf of bread between two chalices appears on an altar depicted on the wall mosaics at Kartmin in Mesopotamia (512 AD). See E,J W Hawkins, M.C. Mundell, C. Mango in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 27 (1973), p. 289 figs. 34 to 35). After iconoclasm, the communion of the Apostles is often portrayed. Sce for instance an 11th century fresco Saint Sophia Ohrid (Yugoslavia), where a single Christ stands behind an altar symetrically set with three objects (as inthe offered Paten), and flanked by two ses of six Apostles led by Paul and Peter See R. Hamman- MacLean and H. Hallensleben, Die Monumentalmalee in Serbien und Makedonien, Giessen, 1963, plates + and 6