Rights Holder: National Museums Liverpool
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Unique ID: LVPL-39BCF5
Object type certainty: Certain
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status: Awaiting validation
A cast copper alloy handle from a Roman patera. The handle is flat and is broken into two halves. It is almost complete.
One end of the handle is concave where it would have continued into the vessel rim. The terminal end is rounded and the handle narrows slightly in the centre. A projection expands outwards from the centre of the terminal and curves round to join the edge of the handle creating an oval shaped perforation in the centre. This would have been mirrored on the other side where the terminal end is incomplete due to an ancient break. Two large regular circular perforations decorated the base of the handle with an internal diameter of 8.53mm. These are likely to have been functional as well as decorative and may have been used to suspend the patera. The handle measures 43.53mm in width at the perforations before narrowing to 27.56mm where the break occurs.
The raised moulded decoration on the handle depicts Cupid, advancing right, trailing a cloak from the left arm and with a palm leaf below. The edge of the object has a slightly raised rim. The object measures 12.37mm in thickness at Cupid's head. The patina on Cupid's face has flaked away during antiquity however very worn details for a rounded noise, linear mouth and ovoid eyes are visible. The figure appears to be naked apart from his cloak and is advancing right with his left leg raised. In his left hand he is trailing a cloak. While to his right the curved moulding may represent Cupid's bow. Above Cupid the handle divides and narrows each side terminating with a rounded projection. A moulded rectangular triple ridge divides the main body of the handle from the projecting sides. An incised eye decorates each projection at the widest part. The projection which measures 12.26mm in width then steps inwards before it terminates where it measures 4.25mm in width. When viewed from the vessel side the eye and rounded narrow terminal on each side appears to represent a bird with a long beak. Where the handle would have joined the vessel the concave section measures 120mm in width.
On the rear of the handle is a large integral pointed triangle which measures 5.45mm in thickness and 26.82mm in length. This would have attached to the body of the vessel. The rear of the handle is undecorated and has a smooth mid brown patina which has chipped away along the break revealing a light green colour below. The upper face of the object has a light brown patina and is in good condition.
There was a wide range of copper alloy vessels available in the Roman Empire and patarae were just one type; still this type of vessel performed a number of functions. Some paterae are shallow, circular vessels, which were used to contain liquids for sacrificial or domestic purposes (Mills 2000). It seems likely that they were used for ceremonial purposes. They are often found with ornate metal jugs (British Museum 1922). The very elaborate vessels such as the Staffordshire moorlands pan (WMID-3FE965) were non-functional and are likely to have been souvenirs of Hadrian's Wall or commemorative issues awarded to an individual. On the other hand, simpler forms were carried by roman soldiers as part of their standard kit and used as a general cooking and eating utensils. The pronounced concentric rings were a feature and may have added heating (Bishop and Coulston, 1993, 105) and the handles all had a hole in the end, probably for suspension. Finds such as this date to the first century AD, examples of which have been found in Caerleon and South Shields, the latter of which dates to the mid 1st century AD (Allason-Jones and Miket, 1984, 146-150), Downes, A (2010) SWYOR-FB6262 A ROMAN VESSEL Webpage available at: http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/420017.
A very close parallel was discovered at Bonn and published in Menzel 1986, 197, no. 541 Taf. 173.
This is a find of note and has been designated: Regional importance
Class: Patera
Current location of find: Museum of Liverpool
Subsequent action after recording: Donated to a museum
Broad period: ROMAN
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Circa AD 43
Date to: Circa AD 100
Quantity: 1
Length: 155 mm
Width: 120 mm
Thickness: 34.03 mm
Weight: 170.6 g
Date(s) of discovery: Sunday 9th February 2014
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Museum accession number: MOL.2016.28
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Decoration style: Figurative
Completeness: Incomplete
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Allason-Jones, L. and Miket, R. | 1984 | Catalogue of Small Finds from South Shields Roman Fort | Gloucester | Society of Antiquaries of London | |||
Bishop, M.C. and Coulston, J.C.N. | 1993 | Roman Military Equipment From the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome (1993) | United Kingdom | B.T. Batsford Ltd | |||
Menzel, H. | 1966 | Die Romischen Bronzen aus Deutschland III Bonn | |||||
Mills, N. and Payne, G. | 2000 | Celtic and Roman Artefacts | Witham | Greenlight Publishing |