Bronze Patera with Lionhead Protome

Culture: Roman

Period: 1st century A.D.

Material: Bronze

Dimensions: 21.2 cm long

Price: Sold

Ref: 3660

Provenance: Gorny&Mosch auction 25 June 2014, lot 85. There acquired by the Horton collection, England. Exhibited in the Harwich Museum, Essex, Great Britain from 3 February to 9 March 2024. With a picture of the exhibition view.

Condition: Handle possibly reattached, otherwise intact.

Description: Wonderfully preserved bronze patera dating to the early Imperial period. The offering bowl itself with an arched omphalos in the tondo which is encircled by delicate circular ribs. The concave base twisted and profiled multiple times. The rim of the bowl is rounded and slightly inwards overlapping. The rounded handle is affixed on the rim through an applique of a lion scalp. At the end sits a finely modelled lionhead. See for the typus the patera in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with the Accession Number 1989.281.87 (there with a wolf’s head on the handle). With magnificent, green patina.