Roman Bronze Steelyard Balance with Severed Celtic Head Weight

Single-edged iron blade with ellipsoid-section bronze handle, openwork acanthus-leaf finial, bands of loose crosshatching to both faces. 62 grams, 13.5 cm



Acquired on the British art market. From the collection of a South West London, UK, specialist Stone Age collector.

Carved head of a prepubescent worshipper of Isis, with soft facial features, long nose, small downturned mouth, heavy-lidded eyes, the whole giving the face a sombre or mournful appearance; the hair textured to indicate a short cut and combed forward across the scalp, sidelock above the right ear; mounted on a 16th century carved breccia upper body with leather cuirass and pteruges to right shoulder, cloak draped across the shoulders and fastened at the clavicle on the right side with a disc-brooch; socle base; some restoration. 19.6 kg total, 51.5 cm including stand



North German private collection, 1970s, and thence by descent. Antiquities, Bonhams, London, 5 October 2011, no.136. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12185-222445.

The child is depicted as a worshipper of Isis with the right side of the head signalling that the boy was a devotee of the goddess’s cult. The head of the boy is probably a funerary portrait, and it is clearly in the first half of 3rd century style. Its resemblance to the portrait of Gordian III on the so-called sarcophagus of Acilia is impressive, so much so that this was probably the reason for which the head was incorporated within a military bust in the 16th century.

Modelled in the round as a figure of a nude male with legs spread as if bestriding a horse; the bald head tilted an turned towards the right shoulder, with pointed ears, fleshy features and a full beard; a textile covering draped around the right thigh and lower body gathered in the left hand; the legs spread and feet dangling, with later holes for attachment pegs; the right arm extended perpendicular to the body and the hand bent round; the base of the spine with vestigial tail and the cloth draped as if on a horse's rump; mounted on a custom-made stand. 200 grams, 98 mm (362 grams total, 14 cm high including stand)



London art market, 1992.

The figure represents either Silenus himself, the aged and semi-bestial companion of Dionysus, or a Seilenos - a member of the feral group of which he was the leader. The attitude of the figure, with the right arm extended and the head tilted, suggests that there should have been an accompanying female figure to whom Silenus was paying full attention. As a devotee of Dionysus, Silenus is often shown with Bacchantes, female celebrants in the cult of wine-drinking, music and other pleasurable pursuits.