Roman Bronze Horse Head Protome

Showing the figure of a bird enclosed inside a medallion, with edges decorated with a foliage, moulded grooves in the upper part, remains of red pigment on the dividing space. 643 grams, 12.5 cm



Acquired from Millon Arts D'Orient, with lot sticker. Property of a Ruislip, UK, gentleman, by inheritance.

The motif of a bird enclosed in a roundel draws inspiration from Parthian and Sassanid art, and decorated the ceilings of Roman Hellenistic tombs and temples of the Roman East. Our fragment could have been part of the polychrome stucco decoration of the ceiling of a tomb, or a square insert in a temple building. It certainly had to be painted in showy colours, of which clear traces remain in the amaranth red on the right of the fragment and in the pink and blue traces visible on the bird.

The larger fragment with stepped neck and rim, bearing a leaping lion right in raised relief; the smaller fragment with leonine protome; both in terra sigillata africana; modern suspension loop to reverse. 54 grams total, 35-60 mm



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

The most ancient production of red African ware began in the Flavian Age. Towards the second half of the 3rd century A.D. – but most probably before – the production reached its zenith and African redware pottery was imported from all the Imperial provinces.

The oval intaglio engraved with nude Eros, holding a fowling-rod, approaching a tree with a bird, a line marking the ground. 0.56 grams, 14 mm



Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection.

Doves are a typical attribute of Aphrodite, and real birds were often given to women as love-tokens; this bezel was possibly destined to a ring used for this purpose. At the same time, the presence of Eros was presumably intended to enhance the wearer’s personal allure.