Details

LOT 0277

Post Roman Gallic Figural Amuletic Bone Carving

5TH-7TH CENTURY A.D. OR LATER

6 1/2 in. (53 grams, 16.5 cm).

A carved bone panel or amulet, possibly a pectoral fragment, carved with a scene composed of a central mounted horseman advancing left with spear raised and solar symbol behind his head, flanked by his forces depicted on the left as two rows of heads facing right, and on the right as two rows of heads facing left; pierced for attachment or suspension; repaired.

Provenance

Previously in the Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.
From a Cambridge collection.
Property of a North London gentleman.

Literature

Cf. Dalton, O.M., Catalogue of Early Christian Antiquities and Objects from the Christian East in the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities and Ethnography of the British Museum, London, 1901, item 291, for type; for similar carving style see the belt of Saint Caesarius, in D'Amato, R., Post Roman Kingdoms, Dark Ages Gaul and Britain, AD 450-800, Oxford, 2022, p.12.

Footnotes

The scene represents a triumphant military commander or an emperor on horseback surrounded by his troops. It may have formed part of the parade attire of a junior officer.