LOT 0827

Roman Redware Ram Pottery Sherd

CIRCA 4TH-5TH CENTURY A.D.

3 in. (50 grams, 77 mm wide).

Fragment of a terracotta votive statuette representing a ram, detail to the horns, ears and fleece; set with a suspension ring on the reverse. [No Reserve]

Acquired 1960s-1990s.
From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.

Cf. Burr, D., ‘The terracotta figurines’ in Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Vol. 2, No. 2, The American Excavations in the Athenian Agora: First Report, (1933), pp.184-194, fig.7, no.636, T50, for similar.

Many figurines of this type have been found in the Hellenised Roman provinces of the east and one identical in the Athenian Agora. They are all rendered with incisions that are characteristic of the technique of the late fourth century. Many similar examples were found in the Kerameikos and some are in the National Museum of Archaeology, Athens. A similar technique is observable in the handles representing animal heads which occur on red pottery ornamented with white paint.