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Date: |
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Description: | An incomplete copper alloy Roman military horse harness pendant or fitting dating to the early second century AD. The pendant is sub-triangular, almost lunate in plan with rounded shoulders and rounded sides that taper towards the openwork point of the triangle. Between the two curved arms is a moulded and knoped projection with a sub-triangular body with side knops, beneath a collared acorn-like terminal. This element hangs from a short rectangular neck between the two arms, forming kidney-shaped apertures either side. The terminal of the arms extend in two linear projections again with an openwork element; on side is bent and broken.There is a long shank extending from the top of the pendant which is incomplete but would have been the looped suspension element of the pendant, probably hidden behind a large decorative disc, or phalera.The upper surface of the pendant is decorated with incised lines in the form of stylised leaves and vine tendrils which appear to have been inlaid with niello. The reverse of the pendant is plain and undecorated. The mixture of stylised vine tendrils, oak leaves and acorns draws on Bacchic imagery. The inlaid niello and possible white metal (silver?) coating is characteristic of Early Principate equine fittings (Bishop and Coulston 2006: 121 and fig. 70.3), of the first century AD.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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