Details

LOT 0643

Roman Bronze Military Mount From a Pompeii Gladius Scabbard

1ST CENTURY A.D.

2 in. (6.12 grams, 50 mm).

Comprising a domed vine-leaf with notched edge and incised veins, finial with lateral scrolled tendrils; pierced for attachment. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Acquired on the London art market in the late 1980s-1990s.
From the family collection of an East London, UK, gentleman.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Literature

Cf. Unz, C., Deschler-Erb, E., Katalog der Militaria aus Vindonissa, Militärische Funde, Pferdegeschirr und Jochteile bis 1976, Brugg, 1997, pl.9, nos.149-164, for several similar examples; for reconstruction on the scabbard see Connolly, P., Greece and Rome at war, London, 2006, p.232, figs.5, 11, 22, 308, 310.

Footnotes

The sword of Pompeii typology was the main side weapon of the Roman legionary from the second half of the 1st century A.D. until the end of the 2nd century A.D. In the Flavian Age, the scabbard was decorated with various bronze appliques: openwork decorated copper-alloy plates and chape, and over the chape, this distinctive bronze foliage mount, used only for these typologies of scabbards.