What We Sell

What these pieces are

Every piece offered by this gallery is a contemporary work made in an ancient manner: heads in the style of Gandhāran Buddhist sculpture, gold in the styles of the Hellenistic and Near Eastern world, figures after the early figurines of Anatolia, the Near East and the Indus, devotional images and beads in the manner of the Himalaya.

What they are not

Not antiques. Nothing here is old, and we make no claim of age anywhere on this site. Where a catalogue note refers to Gandhāra, Anatolia, the Indus or the Hellenistic world, it is describing the tradition a piece works in, not the date it was made.
Not archaeological finds. No piece has been excavated, and none carries a findspot. Several are made as fragments — heads finished at the neck with an irregular edge, figures without limbs — and are finished with matt, uneven surfaces, in the manner of the objects they follow. That is how they are made, not damage.
Not described by material unless tested. Gold is named because every gold piece has been read by X-ray fluorescence. Everything else is described by its appearance — colour, surface, form — and we do not name a stone, a metal or a clay we have not had tested.
Not a claim about subjects or inscriptions. Where we identify a type — a bodhisattva, a wealth deity, a scarab — we are describing the form a piece follows, not saying that it was made for a shrine or belonged to anyone.
Not investments. They are pieces to live with.

Gold

Each gold entry gives the X-ray fluorescence reading for gold to a tenth of a per cent and the equivalent karat, together with any trace element the instrument recorded. XRF reads the surface of the metal rather than its core; it is the standard non-destructive test in the trade, but it is not a fire assay. Where a piece is only partly gold — a mounted scarab or bead — we say which part was tested.

Condition and photography

Everything is sold in new condition, in the finish in which it was made. Every photograph on this site is of the actual piece you will receive, taken on a black ground under even light, and nothing is retouched beyond colour correction. We hold further photographs of every piece — the back, the profile, the base, a scale reference — and send them on request.

Measurements and weights

Dimensions are height by width, in centimetres and inches. Weights are as measured; where a piece comes on a stand, the entry says whether the weight includes it. Ring sizes are US sizes.

Our undertaking

If a piece arrives and is not as described on this site in any respect, return it and we will refund the price and the carriage both ways, with no time limit and no argument. Simply changing your mind is covered too, under the fourteen-day period set out in Delivery & Returns.

Last revised 30 September 2026 · Vining Fine Art, a California company · info@viningfineart.com