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Details
LOT 0168
Roman Silver Crossbow Brooch
3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.
1 3/4 in. (14.6 grams, 46 mm).
Parcel-gilt crossbow brooch with onion-shaped knops to the ends of the headplate and medially along the top edge; deep trapezoidal-section bow with median gusset; D-section footplate with chamfered sides open to one edge; upper part of one face of the bow with niello-filled running scroll design, lower part of the other face with running guilloche; beaded wire collar at the end.
Provenance
Ex N.C. collection.
Acquired on the Swiss art market in 2000.
European private collection.
Literature
Cf. Marin, E., Salona Christiana, Split, 1994, no.6 p.220 (inv.no.H5723); Beck, H. et al., Fibel und Fibeltracht, Berlin, 2000, fig.114(1), for similar.
Footnotes
Crossbow fibulae of this type were worn by high officers and, if in gold, even emperors, from Constantine to Justinian, as symbols of military rank. These fibulae are an important element in the graves, for the classification of the category of the dead, as belonging to the militia (armed or not); many of them were in gold, or gilded silver, and decorated with an inscription.
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