Details

LOT 0190

Romano-Celtic Bronze Statuette of a Warrior Wearing Torc

CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

2 5/8 in. (53 grams total, 67 mm).

Modelled in the round, standing with right leg bent, right arm raised and left extended before the body; with thick tousled hair, exaggerated torc to the neck, jacket with incised vertical lines, tight-fitting trousers and ankle-boots. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Literature

Cf. Durham, E., Metal Figurines in Roman Britain, vol. 2, Reading, 2010, pl.124; Caesar (translated by S. A. Handford) The Conquest of Gaul, (1982), (Penguin Classics).

Footnotes

The pose of the figure suggests that he is in the action of brandishing a weapon, or possibly holding the reins of a team of horses pulling a chariot. Caesar mentions the expert use of the war-chariot by the Britons (Conquest of Gaul, IV.33). The padded garment suggests a Celtic auxiliary in the Roman army.