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Back to previous pageLOT 0533
Estimate
GBP (£) 450 - 650
EUR (€) 540 - 780
USD ($) 580 - 840
4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.
10 in. (68 grams, 25 cm long).
A silver and copper-alloy medical instrument, oval in shape, the handle formed as a snake with shallow hatched pattern on the body representing scales, stylised rendering of the snake's head.
PROVENANCE:
Acquired mid 1980s to early 1990s.
Private family collection formed in London, UK.
Accompanied by a metal test assessment number 182971/HM1456 from an Oxford specialist.
LITERATURE:
Cf. Milne, J.S., Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman times, Oxford, 1907, pl.XI,4, for a spatula with a similar snake handle.
FOOTNOTES:
The use of this spatula (probe) for medical assessment can be confirmed by its snake-shaped handle, evidently a reference to the god Asklepios, whose symbol was a staff with a serpent wrapped around it. Such implements, called 'ἀπυρομήλη', were used in the Graeco-Persian world. The survival of the handle in this example makes it a rare find.
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