3rd century AD. A group of three votive square and round lead plaques including a rectangular fragment, each showing scenes associated with the Danubian cult: on one plaque the god Sol and the goddess Luna depicted in profile on the right and the left side of the upper part of the section, separated by the eagle of Jupiter, while on a second square plaque their busts are facing, the sun (Helios) crowned by a star diadem, the moon (Selene) by the half moon; on the third square plaque and on the fragment, Helios is represented in the upper part driving the sun horse chariot; at the centre of the three plaques facing Helen of Sparta, the divine daughter of Leda and Zeus, welcoming her divine brothers, the twins Castor and Pollux, both personifying the Danubian rider on horseback and carrying Roman crested helmets, on one plaque they are followed by a warrior and a man in toga; on all plaques both the riders advancing, their cloaks flying back, and the legs of their horses overwhelm human bodies; on the lower part of two plaques the representation of the sacrifice to the gods, with offering people, tripods, foliage and animal symbols like lions and snakes; on the background of all plaques architectural cult elements, with snakes on the corners of the fragment and of one of the squared plaques. See Tudor, D., Corpus Monumentorum Religionis Equitum Danuviorum, 2 vols, Leiden, 1969-1976; Mackintosh, M.C., The divine horseman in the art of the western Roman Empire, The Open University, 1991; Rinaldi Tufi, S., 'I cavalieri danubiani e i loro misteri', in I Daci, Catalogue of the exhibition, Milan, 1997, pp.90-91; Scammell, A.J., Ancient Ritual Lead Plaques, the Danubian Plaque collection of Antony John Scammell, preserved in evolutionary sequence, unpublished, 2002, pp.8, 18, 30-31. 445 grams total, 49-90mm (2 - 3 1/2"). Property of a gentleman from Vienna; from his private collection formed since 1970. The collection is part of a series of plaques made during the 3rd century AD, mainly out of lead, which can be considered pictorial encyclopedias of cultic practice and symbolism (Macintosh, 1991, fig.90"). These plaques all have several registers, sometimes as many as four or five, on which not only cult symbols and cult deities are represented, but also the rituals of the cult itself. The majority of the lead plaques come from Pannonia, cast in numbers from the same moulds so that often several copies of the same composition are extant. The centres of manufacture of lead reliefs were most likely cities like Sirmium in Pannonia from which they might be carried to other areas. Edward Ochsenschlagcr who excavated at Sirrnium (where eight plaques have come to light) observed that of the fifteen known examples of one single compositional type, until 1991, eleven were found in Pannonia, two in Moesia Superior, one in Gaul and one is of unknown provenance. There also seems to have been an area of manufacture in Dacia in the region including the cities of Romula, Sucidava and Orlea. [4, No Reserve] For this specific lot, 5% import VAT is applicable on the hammer price