Roman 'Essex' Bronze Votive Axehead Amulet

Including bow brooch parts, belt fittings, silver coins, bowl mount and other items. 420 grams total, 5-83 mm



Found Wiltshire, UK, before 1974.

Two fragments of redware bowl rim, the larger with handwritten label 'Roman / from the Poultry, London Dec.1928' and record card 'Fragment Decorated Samian Bowl. Found: The Poultry, London, Dec. 21. 1928'; the smaller with handwritten label ''Roman / the Poultry / Dec.21.1928'. 60 grams total, 58-65 mm



Found Poultry, London, UK, 1928. 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.

Modelled in the round, standing nude with one arm raised above the head and the other bent, probably from a larger ensemble of figures; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 104 grams total, 10.9 cm including stand



From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

The figure lacks the small dorsal wings which are normally present on a putto, although the curled locks of hair are typical of the type. During the Roman imperial period, children were widely represented in the art of both the public and private spheres. Images of both mortal and divine children appeared in the artworks and furnishings of the home, on the tomb monuments and burial containers associated with the funerary realm.