A double-headed Roman sculpture of Bacchus and his lover, Ariadne, circa 2nd -3rd Century A.D. found in a Jerusalem market in 1941 by Somerset de Chair, a young British army officer, is to be included in Bonhams Antiquities sale on 1st May. It is expected to sell for £60,000 to £90,000.

The sculpture was spotted in an antique dealer’s shop window directly opposite the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which was subsequently bombed on July 22, 1946. The bomb attack was aimed at the British Mandate government of Palestine and its armed forces by members of the Irgun, a militant Zionist organization, which was led at the time by Menachem Begin, the future Prime Minister of Israel.

More info www.bonhams.com

Posted: 04|16|08 at 10:07 pm. Filed under: UK News.