Details

LOT 0122

Roman Military Flying Phallic Pendant

1ST-2ND CENTURY AD

1 3/4" (70 grams, 43mm wide).

A finely detailed winged or possibly horned bronze phallic double looped pendant or mount, three dimensional with engraved detail of hair; the reverse with two pierced lugs; accompanied by a copy of the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service Finds Report dated November 1998 comments: 'Phallic ornaments are a fairly common good luck / virility symbol, the association with bulls is common - adding extra male strength to the symbolism - and they are often but not exclusively associated with the Roman army'.

Provenance

Found near Sudbury, Suffolk, UK, in 1998; accompanied by a copy of the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service Finds Report dated November 1998 (Arts Council England export approval has previously been granted).

Published

Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History, vol.XXXIX, pt.3, p.357, fig.94(I) and p.362 (this piece), accompanied by a copy of the relevant pages including drawings and text.

Literature

See Colonel Fanin, The Royal Museum at Naples, Being Some Account of The Erotic Paintings, Bronzes, and Statues Contained in That Famous 'Cabinet of Secret', London, 1871; also, Hammond, Brett, Benet's Artefacts of England: Roman Edition, Essex, 2016, pp.254-255 and Johns, Catherine, Sex or Symbol, BM, London, 1989 for discussion and other examples.

CONDITION