Details

LOT 0835

Roman Bronze Peacock Statuette

3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.

2 7/8 in. (60.7 grams total, 75 mm including stand).

With rounded body and small lateral wings, broad fanned tail with radiating lines and ring-and-dt motifs; mounted on a custom-made stand. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Literature

Cf. Tilley E., Old collections, New questions: researching the Roman Collections of the Yorkshire Museum, York, 2018, for two peacock figurines (H2427; 2015.572) from York, one from the Railway Station cemetery. Another peacock from York (H2428) is thought to be a sceptre head.

Footnotes

The peacock had a dual symbolism in the Graeco-Roman world. In the pagan world it was the symbol of the goddess Hera (Roman Juno) and represented her beauty and immortality. In the Roman-Christian world it became a symbol of the resurrection of Christ, owing to its yearly moult and regrowth of its spectacular feathers.