Roman 'Essex' Bronze Brooch Collection

The oval intaglio showing Serapis holding a sceptre and wearing a modius upon his head; Isis, wearing a feather(?) headdress and holding a sistrum. 2.51 grams, 18 mm



Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection.

Serapis was known to the Greek and Roman world already in the 3rd century B.C. in Alexandria, where Ptolemy I built a serapeum in honour of the god. The name of the god is considered to be composed from the names Osiris and Apis bull and means 'Osiris the bull' since after his death he became the ruler of the outer world, while it was also believed that Osiris lived in the world through Apis. Isis, his spouse, was worshipped in the Roman Empire as a powerful divinity, mother of the gods.

Of discoid form with filigree and pellet outer border, crimped and twisted wire borders within, central filigree scrolls with granules, central circular cell; suspension bar and loop applied to reverse. 1.95 grams, 20 mm



From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.

The god depicted naked, standing, looking left, holding a caduceus and a purse. 0.79 grams, 15 mm



Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection.

After his identification with the Greek Hermes, the Roman artists who realised his images for the Roman magistrates used the specific Greek elements of his personality (the winged low cap petasos, the face of a shaved young man, the caduceus, the winged shoes of Phekasia type) but added the attribute of a purse, specific to Mercury.