FURNITURE FITTING

Archaeological investigation of the findspot by Prof. Mike Fulford of the University of Reading has concluded that the find was deposited beneath a cobbled floor, probably within a building as a special placed deposit, close to a placed bovid skull. The cobbled floor was itself sealed by a dark earth horizon containing pottery of 2nd century AD date.

No close parallel has so far been identified or an object of this form among the decoration for on household fixtures and fittings for chests, couches, doors etc or on vehicles. As Norbert Franken notes (pers. comm.), it is possible that the applique was not originally made to be applied to the copper alloy strip, especially as it obscures its decorative detail. If the mask was originally a separate object then it could have more comfortably served as furniture or even a large vessel mount, since the image of Oceanus now and again joins the repertoire of Bacchic motifs which commonly decorate household objects. While the inlaid strip to which the mask is fixed has parallels amidst furniture decoration, for example the sheathing for couch frames from Lixus (Boube-Picot 1975: 79-81, nos 41-42), these lack the cylindrical sheath behind housing the iron bolt or rod. Michel Feugere considers that this object is most likely derives from furniture of some kind, since the iron bolt seems too thin for a vehicle fitting, which also carry Bacchic images as common decorative motifs. 

More can be said about the portrayal of Oceanus, the personified image of a primordial force (‘father of things’, pater rerum, Virgil Georgics 4.382), parent of seas and rivers, and body of water encircling the oikoumene (inhabited world) (Barry 2011).  Oceanus is a distinctive but infrequent image in Britain, occurring mainly in sculpture and mosaics. Of the former the most famous is the hybrid face on the pediment of the temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath (Cousins 2020; Henig 2017: 78-80). The well-known face of the god on the Great dish from the Mildenhall treasure also offers parallels in metal to some of the features of the Old Basing find, including the paired dolphins and the curling hair and beard (Hobbs 2016: 21-22). Beyond Britain Oceanus is represented in diverse media, above all in mosaics from the western Mediterranean, where his face forms the centrepiece of scenes of marine bounty. Cornucopia in hand, he often features too on seasons sarcophagi, where he is paired with the personification of the land, Tellus, as parallel manifestations of earthly fruitfulness. This is generated under the auspices of the god Bacchus who is often at the centre of such scenes (e.g. the Badminton sarcophagus https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/254819) (Cahn 1997). The god is also an intermittent presence on Roman imperial imagery, where his presence evokes the universal reach of Roman conquest and authority. For example he appears interchangeably with other marine motifs on the muscled cuirasses encasing the torsos of emperors in stone and bronze sculpture (Cadario 2004; 2011). Coins minted under the authority of the breakaway emperor Carausius are a British parallel to this imperial use of the symbol (Williams 1999). 

Copper alloy masks of Oceanus

Ocean is documented as decorative motif in a small number of other copper alloy objects, though rarely compared to other gods or marine beings, real or imaginary. Not a single instance, for example, is recorded among the thousands of objects documented on the Artefact database, unlike other marine motifs, above all the ubiquitous dolphin. Nonetheless a small number of bronze appliques of similar size and form can be identified from contexts across the empire, though functionally diverse (Cahn 1997).  Some take the form of medallions in quite low relief, between 6 and 10.8 cm in diameter, the god’s image being contained within a central disc surrounded by a clear margin of 1cm or so (e.g. Bavai – LIMC 64l;  Cologne – LIMC 65; unknown, now in Minneapolis – LIMC 68; Verona – LIMC 72). However the following masks have slightly closer affinities to the Old Basing piece, being modelled in higher relief with the god’s face often extending beyond the rim of the medallion; none however offers a direct parallel in form or function.

Schambach, Treuchtlingen (Lkr. Weissenburg-Gunzenhausen, Bavaria). (LIMC 71):  One of the most evocative representations of the elemental force of Ocean, the heavy-lidded eyes stare out from under beetling brows on this larger mask (17.3 cm wide) inlaid with silver and copper.  They are set in a face is formed by layered fronds of veined seaweed, framed by exuberant hair where wild curls, leaf elements and marine creatures (dolphins, molluscs, octopuses, fish) mingle. From the top of the head emerge two kete, encrusted with scales. This likely terminal for a water pipe from the villa at Weinberghof, Schambach. (Archäologische Staatssammlung, Munich), may date to the 2nd-3rd century AD but limited information is available on its context at the time of writing (Hansen 2010: 82-83). 

Lixus, Morocco (LIMC 70): The face on the Lixus mask (20.7 wide x 19.2 cm high) is also covered with overlapping seaweed fronds, framed by a coiffure flicked as if by marine squalls, animated with dolphins by the temples and scaly fish in the beard curls, the latter arranged a little more neatly than those of the hair. Lobster claws rise from the head, turned towards each other with pincers open. There are no attachment elements at the rear and the function is unknown. The mask was found in the enormous complex recently identified as a palace constructed by the Augustan client ruler of Numidia and Mauretania, Juba II  (25 BC to AD 23) and is dated by style and context to the 1st century BC (Aranegui and Mar 2009: 55-6; Boube-Picot 1969: 307-9, no. 382, pl. 241). The palace itself sits high above the Atlantic in this former Punic emporium, a gateway to Mauretania Tingitana.

Verona (LIMC no.): A smaller bronze applique (9 x 7 cm) from the river Adige, the face formed by overlapping seaweed fronds, sinuous hair alive with marine life, crab claws erupting outwards from the temples, deep cut pupils and small pointed ears, but no beard (Franzoni 1973, 164, no. 140). Given the discovery in a city with evidence for imperial statues and on analogy with the Cadiz piece ,Bolla suggests that it may have originally been attached to a metal cuirass (1999: 210-11, fig. 48). However Ojeda’s (2017) re-evaluation of the Cadiz find weakens this case (see below). 

Memphis (British Museum 1922,0712.3) (LIMC 67):  A c. 8 wide and 11.5 cm high mask of Oceanus, again with seaweed strands covering the face, framed by luxuriant hair and beard. the latter standing prouder than the former, with an anastole-like quiff (Perdrizet 1911 37-38, no. 59, Pl. XVIII). This mask differs from others in the height of the lobster (?) claws which rise from the temples, with dolphins entwining their base. These may form a handle; a nail hole is visible in the beard. Perdrizet emphasizes the Hellenistic inspiration of this piece, formerly in the Fouquet collection before his death and purchase at auction by the British Museum. 

Cologne, Luxemburger Str.  (LIMC 66): A mask of Oceanus from the extramural area south-west of the city, 20cm high, with claws extending from the forehead and dolphins intermingled with beard strands, their tails on the god’s cheeks, their heads emerging by the chin. The abundant hair is quite carefully parted and lifted in an anastole-like arrangement from the forehead (Franken 1996, 33-36, Abb. 34-35).  The object’s function is uncertain, being less likely in Franken’s view to be an applique from a cuirassed statue than a structural decoration of some kind, perhaps associated with the Cologne aqueduct which passes close to the findspot. Although found in a major cemetery area, there is no association with a  specific grave.

Cadiz (LIMC 73a): A small bronze applique, with an image of the god with beetling brows, shaggy hair and beard, but lacking the marine life or seaweed fronds of other appliques (Ojeda 2017; Paulian 1979: 120-21). It has been restored as an element of a metal cuirass from a bronze tropaeum set up in Cadiz, an appropriate place to celebrate Roman power at the edge of Ocean, but Ojeda notes that association is not certain, the image being found separately from the cuirass itself.

Izmit: Antikensammlung Berlin: Antike Bronzen in Berlin (http://antike-bronzen.smb.museum/index.htm) Inv. 31763
An unpublished mask showing a hybrid clean-shaven face of a Gorgon and a Triton (10.1 cm high x 11.8cm wide), with the curling hair common to gorgon and marine beings, a Gorgon’s wing31763s sprouting from the head and a seaweed frond extending across the face. 

The common characteristic of these masks is the shaggy coiffure and beard, coupled with the presence of other marine attributes, including the teeming sea life and the hybridizing of human, plant and animal forms in the person of the god. The closest parallels are the masks from Lixus, Schambach, Verona and to a lesser extent Memphis, likewise with faces formed by overlapping layers of seaweed fronds), though all differ in key details, for example the ears (their presence / absence and form) or projections from the temples (similar at Verona, dolphins at Schambach, lobster claws and dolphins at Lixus). The Old Basing mask is clearly made by an artisan sensitive to the principles underpinning the representation of Ocean and the potential for variety that the god’s form offers. It does not quite measure up to the finesse of the Schambach and Lixus objects or their evocation of the god’s cosmic potency, the latter in Boube-Picot’s (1969: 307) words possessing a ‘sereine majesté’ (une rare maîtrise’ p. 308).  The dates given for these two masks, one a late Republican, the other mid-imperial, do not help to narrow a date for the Old Basing fitting. Martin Henig suggests a 1st century date, given its comparable quality to bronzes from Campania (noting also the Oceanus-influenced temple pediment at Bath):

‘I am looking at Ward-Perkins and Claridge, Pompeii AD79 (British Academy 1976) and no.176 is a bronze plaque with a maenad in high relief.-with silver eyes height 19.2 cm…..For quality I compare it to the askos handle of Flavian date from Alec Down's Fishbourne excavation see  Cunliffe, Down and Rudkin. Chichester Excavations 9. Excavations at Fishbourne 1969-1988 ( (Chichester 1996) pp.200-203, closely comparable to one from Boscoreale. Here there is an exceptionally fine satyr head at the base of the handle. We published it earlier in Ant J.68 (1988),pp. 308-10.’

Acknowledgements
JP is very grateful to Martin Henig, Michel Feugère and Norbert Franken for discussion of the image and suggested references. 

Abbreviations
RIB: Roman Inscriptions of Britain
LIMC:  Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae 

References
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