Details

LOT 0790

Roman 'Burgh Castle' Terracotta Antefix Shell Decoration

1ST-4TH CENTURY A.D.

5 1/8 in. (342 grams total, 13 cm wide including stand).

The upper part of an antefix, rounded in shape and decorated with a 16-armed shell shape; mounted on a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Found Burgh Castle, Great Yarmouth, Suffolk, UK.
From the collection of a late East Anglian teacher and antiquarian who retired to the Isle of Wight in Hampshire, UK.
He amassed a large collection of objects between the 1960s-1980s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Literature

Cf. McComish, J.M., A Guide to Ceramic Building Materials, an insight Report, York, 2015, pl.1, p.8, for Roman antefixes in Britain.

Footnotes

Antefix tiles in Britain are rare and typically comprise a decorated vertical panel of triangular or pentagonal shape, though some are known to have a rounded top, and they have a lug or a semi-circular flange on the reverse designed to fit into the open end of either the lowest course of embraces on a roof, or into the gable end of the ridge tiles. Antefix tiles have sanded decorated surfaces showing that they were made in sanded moulds rather than being stamped. The majority of antefix tiles in Britain are decorated with human masks, though several other designs are known: pentagonal panels, vine leaves with grapes, gorgon heads, a female head with a stylised headdress, a second design of female head and a man fishing.