A Collector’s Menagerie: Animal Sculpture from the Ancient World will introduce collectors to a veritable menagerie from the ancient world, spanning a period of some 2,400 years.

The Sladmore Gallery, St James’s, London, is renowned for exhibiting animal sculpture from the last 200 years, and has invited Rupert Wace Ancient Art to display around 70 important and appealing pieces will be offered to collectors at prices ranging from £1,000 to over £150,000.
One of the most interesting pieces is a bronze dog head terminal dating from the 1st-2nd century AD. This was probably a Roman chariot fitting and has a ring projecting from either side of its mouth, with its ears flattened horizontally against its head.

Also on view is a Roman bronze sculpture of a dog from the 1st century AD. The dog is shown standing four square, its back left leg somewhat forward. The small head with alert expression and pricked ears, is slightly turned to the right. A neat collar is worn around the neck and the body is well modelled and detailed with short fringes of hair down the backs of the legs. Thick locks of rough hair frame the cheeks and run from the crown down the back of the head to the tail, which is curled over in a circle, its tip touching its haunches.

The earliest piece in the exhibition – a stone head of a goat – dates from the 3rd millennium BC and comes from a larger figure from Bactria, the ancient name of an area between the Hindu Kush and the Oxus river in present-day north Afghanistan. The most recent is a Byzantine bronze finial in the form of a dove dating from around the 5th century AD, possibly an early Christian piece representing Noah’s Dove, a symbol of resurrection.

Visitors to the exhibition will be fascinated by the fine craftsmanship of this amazing collection of creatures great and small, which still thrill and amuse today.

Exhibition: A Collector’s Menagerie: Animal Sculpture from the Ancient World
Exhibition dates: 12 to 28 May 2010

Location: Sladmore Gallery, 57 Jermyn Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y 6LX
Information: www.rupertwace.co.uk tel. +44 (0)20 7495 1623

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 10am to 6pm; Saturday 11am to 5pm
Price range: £1,000 to over £150,000.

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