Rights Holder: Suffolk County Council
CC License:
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Unique ID: SF-4E26D1
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
A cast copper-alloy vessel or box mount of possible Roman date. It is pointed-oval shaped in plan, triangular in section with concave back face and moulded front face in the form of a lion's face. At the base of the mount are incised vertical grooves forming the mane. Above this is a slightly open mouth with a projecting triangular nose/snout. This has two small oval shaped nostrils below which are five opposing pairs of transverse grooves that represent the whiskers. The face has slightly rounded cheeks and a prominent nose that runs from the mouth to the centre of the forehead. To either side are sunken oval shaped eyes with incised decoration and prominent bushy and curving eyebrows. The back face is concave with no apparent decoration or means of attachment, and both faces have a corroded and pitted dark green patina. It measures 32.10mm in length, 23.58mm in width, 14.61mm in height/thickness and 11.79g in weight.
Mounts or studs in the form of lion's heads have been noted at a number of locations in Suffolk (e.g. SF-0096E3, SF-5AC647, SF-7A9D56, SF-8842 and SF-8319). They would have originally be attached to decorative wooden cremation caskets, such as examples noted in Essex (ESS-1AAD74) and at Skeleton Green (Partridge, 1981: pp. 312-316). Their usage is believed to represent the devouring power of death and the lion's head motif appears frequently on provincial Roman funerary monuments (Partridge, 1981: pp. 315). The current example differs slightly in both form and the means of attachment, which remains uncertain. It is possible that it performed a similar function, although it also shares some similarities with concave vessel mounts of the Roman period that might indicate a differing usage. It is likely to be of Roman date, c.43-410 AD.
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: ROMAN
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Circa AD 43
Date to: Circa AD 410
Quantity: 1
Length: 32.1 mm
Width: 23.58 mm
Thickness: 14.61 mm
Weight: 11.79 g
Date(s) of discovery: Wednesday 23rd November 2011
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SMR reference number: MKE 005
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Complete
No references cited so far.