Roman Millefiori Glass Eye-Shaped Dish

Comprising a large quantity of pottery and red-ware sherds from large and small vessels, including an amphora neck and part of a handle. 586 grams total, 7-74 mm



Found near Vechten, Netherlands. Netherlands private collection. Acquired from a private collector in 2009. Property of a Nottinghamshire gentleman. Accompanied by a typed information sheet.

Fectio, modern Vechten, was a fort in the limes, the frontier zone of the Roman Empire, situated at the site of the bifurcation of the rovers Rhine and Vecht. Numismatic evidence suggests that it was founded by the Roman general Tiberius (the future emperor) during the 4/5th campaigns. It probably served as a military base during punitive raids. Around the middle of the 2nd century AD, the wood and earth fort was replaced by a stone fortification and occupied by the Ala I Thracum, who had previously been stationed in Britain. At the end of the 2nd/beginning of the 3rd century, the silting up of the Rhine’s arm on which Fectio lays had progressed to such an extent that access from the river was no longer possible. In the more than two and a half centuries of its existence, the camp was destroyed and rebuilt several times until the fort site was finally abandoned - as evidenced by archaeological traces of fire after a final destruction in 270/275 A.D.

With onion-knop terminals, carinated bow with a band of diagonal line decoration; the footplate with ring-and-dot decoration to each end, flanking a central linear decoration; pin and catch-plate to reverse. 55 grams, 89 mm



Found UK. Acquired from Alan Cherry at the Birmingham Coin Fair, 2003. Property of a Nottinghamshire gentleman. Accompanied by an identification card.

Decorated with a high-relief pattern comprising sphinxes, dolphins and masks of Medusa in fields between columns; ropework and floral border strips with laurel leaves. 6.4 kg, 41 cm wide



From a West Sussex, UK, collection, 1990s.

There were many ways of burying bodies during the Roman Empire. Although the majority were buried without coffins, there is evidence for wooden coffins, lead-framed wooden coffins, tile burials and lead and stone coffins. This item belongs to types widespread in the Eastern Mediterranean. The panel is decorated with a columned structure, and within each section are symbols of the outer-world, including gorgons, sphinx and dolphins. The sphinx, having a human head and breasts, legs and paws of a lion, and wings of a bird, was generally associated with protecting imperial tombs and temples. The roundels featuring the head of Medusa, known for her potent gazes that could turn one to stone, was favoured on sarcophagi and architectural ornaments because it was believed that her image would protect those within. The dolphin was considered to ferry the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Very often these sarcophagi were connected by a pipe to the ground above so that mourners could pour in offerings into the grave.