VESSEL

Roman copper alloy vessel mount in the form of a janiform male bust. The mount is nearly complete with a break across the attachment loop at the base. The front is formed of a full bust with head and widened shoulders. A slot runs up through the head from the base and the back is formed of a second face which ends at the chin with no shoulders. A groove runs across the top of the head dividing the two faces.

Both faces have moulded hair formed of regular semi-circular projections divided by grooves giving a scalloped appearence. The facial features are defined in part by moulding, on the noses and chins which project and mouths which are recessed and partly by deeply indented lines. The features are crudely drawn with oval angled eyes with dots for pupils, a line below the nose and two parallel horizontal lines for the mouth, a further line curves along the base of the hair defining the hairline. The depth of these lines on the eyes and the way they are interrupted may suggest they were incised on the model and then cast rather than made post-casting with the straight lines on the mouth and bust being made post-casting.

The faces join at the base of the head on each side with the U-shaped slot below this and the groove through the hair above. The groove is broader at the top of the head, a shalow U-shaped and very smooth as though worn.

The shoulders at the front are a flat plate with the back parallel with the back of the front face on the outerside of the slot. There is a short neck at the top of the bust, the shoulders then project out horizontally before joining the semi-circular curved lower edge of the bust. The left shoulder (seen by the viewer) is broken with an old, patinated break. At the lowest point of the bust is a projecting circular loop, now broken with a patinated break. The division between this loop and the bust is emphasised by incised lines. The bust is further decorated with incised straight lines indicating clothing. Probably a cloak with two layers and an overlapping V-shaped neckline, the piece on the right shoulder (of the figure) is plain with a double line upper border and overlaps the piece on the left shoulder which is decorated with a grid of lines, possibly representing tartan.

The object is 48.3mm from top to base, 23.0mm thick at the thickest point (the chins) and 4.4mm thick on the bust 32.1mm wide at the bust and 24.9mm wide at the face. The slot, measureed from the chin of the face on the back is 10.6mm deep by 21.7mm wide. The entire thing weighs 64.44g.

The slot and attachment loop suggest this was placed ont he rim of a vessel and riveted at the base to hold it in place. The design of the vessel mount in the form of a female bust is common in the Roman period, see for example ESS-A9905A and NARC-062D54 on this database which are similar in design but with different attachment methods. However this slotted form that sat over the rim seems to be a more local fashion, examples include DEV-8FDD22 from South Brent, Devon, BUC-DFB19A from Fivehead, Somerset and more broadly GLO-460D3B from South Petherton, Somerset, and NMGW-097C90 from Kings Langley, Wiltshire both of which were mounted at the end of the handle, and they may continue an Iron Age tradition of vessel handle attachments such as an example from Baldock (Jope 2000 plate 144a-f).