ROMAN FIGURINE

100

Roman gritstone bust of human ?male. Sub-circular head, flattened at the back and front, roughly hexagonal face with pointed chin, which protrudes slightly when seen from side, simple slightly dished eyes, low relief wedge shaped nose, short horizontal groove as mouth. The chin is defined by a groove, no neck, squared shoulders, no deifinition for the top of arms. There is a shallow depression on each side of head, probably to represent ears. The base is slightly curved towards the back, so the object does not stand up on its own. Damage to the right front chest, the back and top of the head, and possibly the base of the right shoulder. Length (height) 58.5mm, width (across shoulders) 66.0mm, width of head 41.5mm, thickness (across head) 34.5mm, thickness across chest 30mm, weight 187.31g. Martin Henig has seen a picture of this object, and says “This is a very interesting piece, and certainly Roman in date, evidently of local limestone [this is actually gritstone]… It could have served as a ‘lar’ I suppose in the villa shrine. Date ?2nd-3rd century.” Henig cites the best parallel as a head and shoulders bust of a female(?) with simple eyes & wedge shaped nose from Cirencester (Henig, 1993, Roman Sculpture from the Cotswold Region, Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani. Great Britain 1.7, no.159); and also mentions three other heads in the same publication, no.s 156-8 respectively from Broadway (Worcs), Guiting Power & ?Cirencester, and a head that he and Lesley Cram are in the process of publishing in the Leicester proceedings (probably 2005).