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Details
LOT 0874
Roman Bronze Medical Implement with Inscription
1ST-4TH CENTURY A.D.
3 1/4 in. (25 grams, 84 mm).
Comprising a pierced bulb finial and tapering shank with horizontal bands, ribbed median section and flat panel with perpendicular pierced disc finia; inscribed with Latin letters 'LV. HINT'.
Provenance
Acquired on the London, UK, art market in the 1990s.
From a gentleman's private collection.
Literature
Cf. Perk, H., Anatolia Ancient Period Medicine Instruments, Halük Perk Medicine Museum Collection, Istanbul, 2012, nos.6.1.3, for similar upper part.
Footnotes
The fragment is possibly the upper part of a sharp pointed retractor, which was used for delicate operations on the tonsils and other internal parts of the body. The inscription probably refers to the name of the doctor, possibly LV[CIV]S HINT[IUS].
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