LOT 0771

Roman Sheet Gold Phalera Cover Pair with Pelta Shields

4TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.

2 1/2 in. (7.28 grams total, 64-65 mm).

Comprising two discoid ornamental appliqués with beaded rims, each with repoussé pelta-shaped panel terminating in opposed bird-heads, surmounted by scrolled tendrils and a kantharos enclosed in a laurel crown. [2, No Reserve]

Acquired in the early 1990s.
From the collection of a London antiquarian.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Cf. Sannazzaro, M., Giostra, C., Petala Aurea, Gold-Sheet-work of Byzantine and Lombard Origin from the Rovati Collection, Truccazzano, 2014, nos.8-9-10, for circular gold sheets with similar decorations; D’Amato, R., Negin, A., Decorated Roman Armour, from the Age of the Kings to the death of Justinian the Great, London, 2017.

The subject represented on these two bracteae is a military shield in the form of a crescent, the so-called pelta, associated in the Late Roman iconography with the Amazon female warriors. This was not necessarily only an iconographic motif, considering that many shields of this typology were represented on the pedestal of the Column of Arcadius in Constantinople (circa 400 A.D.) and they seemed to be associated with the heavy cavalry of the Imperial guard (D’Amato-Negin, 2017, p.252). This could suggest that these gold sheets were applied upon phalerae or military decorations.