Roman Bronze ROMA Brooch

2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

1 3/8 in. (13.86 grams, 35 mm).

With openwork monogram in Latin letters, ('R'+'M'+'A', with the 'O' represented by the circular plan of the brooch itself), a palindrome 'AMOR'; complete with pin.

Provenance

Acquired on the German art market around 2000s.
From the collection of an EU gentleman living in the UK.

Literature

Cf. Heynowski, R., Bestimmungsbuch Archaeologie: Fibeln, Munich, 2012, item 3.26.11, for type; for a similar brooch discovered on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, see database in Portable Antiquities Scheme website.

Footnotes

The brooch is composed of the stylised letters ‘RMA’. When viewed from the obverse RMA + the circle of the brooch form a monogram for ‘Roma’. Roma refers to both the city and its divine personification, the Dea Roma. But if RMA is read from right to left (or the brooch is viewed from the opposite side), the letters display a monogram for ‘AMOR’, the Latin name for Cupid, the god of love. The phrase pertains to Roma-Amor, a widely recognised palindrome espousing Roman wordplay in the ancient times.

CONDITION

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LOT 0681