Details

LOT 0541

Iron Age Celtic Enamelled Torc

1ST CENTURY BC-1ST CENTURY AD

7" (219 grams, 17.5cm).

A bronze torc comprising a triangular-section hoop with hatched bulb collars, urn-shaped and rectangular panels with reserved La Tène ornament on red enamelled fields, central domed boss with red-enamelled seven-pointed star; lines of punched annulets to both faces.

Provenance

From the collection of a London ancient art specialist; from a collection acquired in the 1970s and 1980s.

Footnotes

The torc is a very visible neck-ring usually made as a casting or from twisted or braided wires, in bronze, silver or gold. They were worn by prominent persons in Central and Northern Europe from the early 1st millennium BC until historical times, and are often associated with Thracian, Scythian, Celtic and other linguistic groups. There were regional preferences including the braided wire types with looped terminals which were favoured in Britain and the pear-shaped terminals of the Iberian peninsula. Some of the larger and heavier examples may have been intended to adorn statues of the gods rather than being intended for human use.

CONDITION