TWO ROMAN BRONZE AND IRON FITTINGS EX. CHRISTIE'S
Ca. 100-300 AD.
An outstanding pair of bronze and iron fittings, each one comprising a spiral fluted column with an iron rod projecting from the Ionic-variant capital that is surmounted by a bust of Bacchus wearing a goat pelt with a hoof falling over his shoulder. Aside from this, his chest is revealed with delineated nipples. Bacchus' handsome face is crowned by a centrally-parted coiffure adorned by a wreath of ivy leaves and berries and pulled back into a low chignon with wavy locks cascading over his shoulders. Both of these matching busts sit upon rectangular plinths with hatched borders and a looped handle joining the plinths to the upper end of the bust's verso, just beneath the nape of the neck. Father Liber (Liber Pater) or Bacchus was the god the Romans identified with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and fertility. He has come to be associated particularly with drunkenness and lascivious behavior. Thus, even today people speak of having “bacchic rites,” referring back to ecstatic and frenzied Dionysian or bacchic festivals such as those that take place in Euripides' play the Bacchae. Item comes with a professional historical report from Ancient Report Specialists.
Size: L:375mm / W:300mm ; 2.7kg
Provenance: Ex. Christies New York, December 5th. 2012, Sale 2605, Lot. 75.
Estimate: GBP 7500 - 15000