Roman Bronze Three-Dimensional Vessel Mount

2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

5 3/8 in. (286 grams, 13.8 cm).

Comprising a plaque of three conjoined lobes with segmented border; at the top, a loop with segmented rim; vignette with a nude male with shoulder-length hair embracing a taller bearded figure with kilt and mantle to left shoulder (Hercules?); below, a satyr with horns and goat's legs beset by hunting dogs.

Provenance

Acquired in 1992.
Private collection, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12865-241702.

Literature

Cf. for a similar mount Boucher, S., Inventaire des Collections Publiques Françaises - 17 Vienne: Bronzes Antiques, Paris, 1971, item 316, pp.156-157.

Footnotes

Vessel mounts of this form are not a commonly recovered artefact type, and the presence of two figures instead of one is a very singular feature. We can presume that the mount was attached to a vessel of large dimensions and of a certain importance.

CONDITION

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LOT 0913