Roman Bronze Balsamarium Lid with Swan

Displaying an possibly unfinished scene composed of robed warriors or other figures wearing Phrygian caps, wide tunics with segmenta, oriental trousers (anaxyrida) and tugging on a rope; later attachment loop to the reverse. 163 grams, 10.1 cm



Acquired 1960s-1990s. From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.

The scene probably represents an episode of the Trojan cycle, with the Trojans (usually represented in Late Antiquity with a Phrygian cap, wide sleeved tunics and Persian-style trousers) dragging the wooden horse inside the walls of Troy. In the late Roman Empire the Trojan cycle became often the subject of artistic representations, such as the famous Ilias Ambrosiana now preserved in Milan, or the miniatures of the Vergilius Romanus.

Complete with pin lug, pin and catchplate to reverse; bird standing right with wings folded against the body, remains of silvered detailing to the feathers and head. 2.9 grams, 25 mm



Found The Rodings, Essex, UK.

Excavating an archaeological site at Salthouse in October 1980, Alex Vines found a bronze bird thought to be part of a Roman duck brooch. The shape was slightly different from our specimen, but it confirmed that brooches shaped as ducks were used by civilians in 2nd-3rd century Roman Britannia. The zoomorphic brooches were typical in Britain as many of the birds shown were either representative of native birds or of ducks.

Amphoriskos with flat disc-shaped body, tubular neck with flared rim, two lateral knee-shaped handles to the shoulder. 12.4 grams, 58 mm



Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016.