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Details
LOT 0560
Roman and Later Bronze Artefact Group
3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D. AND LATER
3/4 - 1 1/2 in. (94 grams total, 18-40 mm).
Comprising various figures and mounts including: a sheep, a fly, a peacock, an anthropomorphic head, a mount with a lying feline and a crouching figure. [6, No Reserve]
Provenance
Acquired on the UK art market.
Property of a Ruislip, UK, gentleman, by inheritance.
Literature
Cf. Durham, E., Metal Figurines in Roman Britain, University of Reading PhD thesis, 2010, item 287 (horse from Spalding, Lincolnshire).
Footnotes
In the art of late antiquity and early Christianity, during the Christian Middle Ages to the present, peacock held a prominent place, not only as a decorative motif, but also as a distinctive emblematic and symbolic sign. Its image was usually combined with a kantharos or a tree of life. Individually or in pairs, it was usually represented on places which were the ones closest to the holiest part of churches (altar’s parapet wall panels). Votive statuettes were brought in the church by the believers.
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