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Description: | Complete cast, copper alloy Roman knife handle. This knife handle takes the form of a three-dimensional zoomorphic head, triangular in section, extending from a rectangular necked shaft. The head is probably that of a wolf or dog. It is realistically portrayed with the flattened brow of the animal running into a pointed snout with a defined nose bridge. The pointed ears are laid flat against the side of the animal's head, maintaining this flattened profile. They have been moulded with a triangular indent to represent the inner ear. The brows of the animal rise slightly above the flattened head. The eyes are simply rendered with a lenticular indent with an incised dot for the pupils. Beneath the eyes the cheeks are moulded with a realistic bulge. The nose is moulded with a deep septum running down the flat front of the snout and the very end of the snout is moulded with a realistic bulging muzzle to either side of the nose. The dogs mouth is shown slightly open, with the band of is tongue showing between the jaws. Running between the ears and around the jaw to the bottom of the snout, the head is moulded with raised diagonal lines to represent a furry ruff. The underneath of the animal's head is flat, and incised with diagonal lines in a herring bone pattern, probably to continue the illusion of fur. Running side to side through the end of the animal's snout and jaw is a circular perforation for the fitting of a suspension loop, now missing. The animal's head extends from a rectangular shaft. The shaft has been moulded so it appears as if the head is extending from a four petalled flower, one rectangular 'petal' with a curved end for each side of the shaft. The open end of the shaft is moulded with a rectangular collar with a raised double border. Between the border on the top of the collar are raised, parallel, transverse lines. The other three sides are plain, but slightly bulging between the border. The object is hollow from the end of the shaft to approximately half way along the snout, where upon the object is solid. The object is 75mm long, of which 46.9mm is the animal's head. The head is 24.58mm at the widest point and 11.04mm wide at the tip of the snout. The head is 22.5mm thick. The circular perforation has an internal diameter of 4.84mm. The 'petalled' portion of the shaft is 18.4mm wide and 20.2mm thick. The band of the collar is 7.86mm wide. The rectangular opening of the shaft is 18.14mm wide internally and 13.02mm high. The object weighs 116.58g. The object has been treated since discovery and has an even brown, bronzey patina. It is in very good condition and a fine example of this type of object. There are numerous parallels for zoomorphic knife handles from the Rhineland and there a number illustrated in the Bonn volume of Die Römischen Bronzen Aus Deutschland III, figures 116-119. Number 251, though showing a horse's head, has the similar 'petalled' shaft and clear circular perforation. Another similar example, again showing a horse, is known from London. See Roach Smith, 1854, The Catalogue of the Museum of London Antiquities number 331. (The Roach Smith Collection is now in the British Museum collections, this item being registration number 1856, 7-1, 1132).
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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