LOT 0839

Roman Glass Phallic Amulet

1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

1 1/4 in. (11.4 grams, 32 mm).

Modelled in the round with applied red-glass collar, pierced through the shaft for suspension.

Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.

See Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 425, for type, but in bronze; for a similar ceramic phallus-amulet see Devlova, P., Manova, R., Rangelov, B., Avdeev, G., ‘Interdisciplinary Studies of a phallus-shaped jewellery from Apollonia Pontica, Bulgaria,’ in Acta Musei Tiberiopolitani, vol.5, Strumica, 2024, pp.98-109, fig.2.

In the Roman world, the phallus was a symbol of luck or fertility, and it was believed to have apotropaic functions. Pendants, amulets and small objects were worn by all sorts of people as symbols of protection, especially by young children, according to Varro and Pliny the Elder. The phallus is also commonly found on reliefs, frescoes and lamps from the Graeco-Roman world.