Late Roman silver at Christie's

With an auction of antiquities coming up at Christie's New York, on December 9, Looting matters highlights the perennial difficulty of provenance.

Where was this piece of ancient silver found? The eastern Mediterranean? Italy? Northern Europe? The catalogue entry keeps the options open: "the stylistic influences of Constantinople and the iconographic influences of Rome itself". There are intellectual consequences for interpreting objects that have no recorded find-spots.

He is discussing a beautiful late Roman - late fourth century/early fifth century - silver paten which shows the Traditio Legis. It could be yours for US$600,000 - $800,000. Actually, the way recent auctions have been going, it could be yours for less than that.

But he is depressingly right about provenance. The silver paten is "the property of a private US collector"; a Byzantine silver cup is "property of a gentleman"; and a Byzantine gilt bronze plaque is "English private collection, circa 1980". None of these descriptions are remotely useful.

Image copyright Christie's also with a much higher res image.