Romano-British 'Ipswich Area' Artefact Collection

Fragment of a ribbed bracelet with finial, re-used as a finger ring. 6.85 grams, 23.82 mm overall, 16.58 mm internal diameter (approximate size British H, USA 3 3/4, Europe 6.18, Japan 6)



Found Suffolk, UK. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.SF-37E1B5.

Substantial ceramic fragment with high-relief image of a boar running amid foliage; symbol of Legio X Fretensis. 125 grams, 10.1 cm



Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman.

With C-section profile to the blade, rectangular handle with flare to the upper end, old notch to one edge, repaired. 46 grams, 19 cm



Ex collection Dr. Kuhn-Lucht, Germany. with Kölner Munzkabinett, Cologne, before 2016. Private European collection.

An emblematic instrument of the ancient sporting world, the strigil was mainly used by athletes as a scraper for personal hygiene. After training, which took place in the gymnasiums on tracks and arenas covered with sand, athletes and young people rubbed their skin with olive oil. They then used one of these distinctive scrapers remove the sand-oil mixture before washing in water. These actions are reproduced on famous statues (including Apoxyomenos, one of Lysippus’ masterpieces), on reliefs (such as funerary steles) as well as on countless vase paintings. In Attic and Italian red-figure imagery, the strigil is often depicted on perfume vases, like the aryballos and alabastron.