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Description: | Copper alloy and iron sword pommel. Cast copper alloy terminal in the form of a ram's head with coiled horns, with a wrought iron tang of 13mm by 9mm passing into its collared end. The finder kindly suggests this may be a terminal for a patera handle; this reporter would prefer to see the counterbalance offered by this weighty piece as more apt to a fighting knife or sword handle.The ram's head is modelled naturalistically, particularly in regard to the angle down the front of its muzzle, as viewed in profile, with symmetrical grooves down the side of the muzzle and a balled terminal at the nose. The curled horns are lightly ribbed by incised diagonal lines, smoothed by wear. The eyes and ?ears are symmetrically placed as perfunctory pits, and depend on their relationship to the contours of the rest of the face for their correct apprehension. A pelleted band or garland passes between the face and the woolly locks, whose curls are represented by multiple circular stamps of diameter 3mm. These stamps are neatly distributed along the back of the horns. In front of the horns, further circles were made with a stamp of diameter 2mm - possibly the same tool which confers the pelleted appearance to the putative garland. On the underside of the muzzle, larger stamps are set out in six rows, limited by a single row of the smaller stamps. A collar separates the zoomorphic terminal from a functional tubular socket. The latter has ten deep longitudinal grooves running around it. These may be intended to improve the cohesion between pommel and grip, which would be vital for a sidearm or weapon. This implies a one-piece tubular hand grip slipped over the tang, and capped by the pommel.The selection of a ram might allude to sacrificial offerings for a knife, or to the Capricorn emblem of Legio II Augusta in the case of a sword. The execution is provincial rather than metropolitan, combining a rather simple technical approach to the depiction of wool - with stamps of two sizes rather than by more sophisticated texturing - with an intuitive grasp of animal physiognomy. The author of the piece may have enjoyed little grasp of Classical convention, but he was clearly acquainted with the Celtic craft of integrating ferrous and non-ferrous metals in the same object, and, apparently, intimately acquainted with sheep. The object has also been worn to a fine patina, presumably by handling. Suggested date: Early Roman, 43-200. The condition and interest of the piece commend it as a find of note.Length: (pommel); 53.5mm, overall: 79.2mm, Diameter: 27mm, Weight: 129.40gms.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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