LOT 0178

Roman Bronze Spanish Military Monkey Statuette

4TH CENTURY A.D.

1 3/8 in. (23.9 grams, 34 mm).

Modelled seated on a polygonal base wearing a paenula, the right hand placed on the left shoulder, head tilted to one side, right hand placed on a stela or lantern.

‘The Ancient Menagerie Collection’ formerly the property of a Cambridgeshire lady, collected since the 1990s and acquired from auctions and dealers throughout Europe and the USA, now ex London collection.

See Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques De Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 262, for a Roman example of small ape statuette.

The monkey is bearing a military sagum with cucullus and is holding beside him a squared lucerna. This representation can be a Roman military mascot or simply a grotesque. In 2001 in Spain, at Llivia, remains of Barbary apes with military belt buckles typically related to the late Roman period were discovered. The discovery of this type of belt buckle in a human grave would suggest that they were once a part of this army, so the fact that some were given to a Barbary ape means that the apes may have played a military role, for example, acted as targets to distract the enemy, or had a combat or defence role. Apes were also a common form of pet in the Graeco-Roman world.