File:Roman mount (front, profile, reverse) (FindID 210634).jpg

English: A cast copper alloy female bust, probably a mount, dating from the Roman period. The bust consists of a head, neck and upper torso at the front and on the reverse the bust terminates below the head at about the neck. The reverse of the torso is hollow, although a thick ridge runs around the edges forming a flat profile, and a shallow cavity extends into the neck. The head is oval in plan. there is a narrow linear incision of unknown function, approximately 1mm wide, 1mm deep and 11mm long, running across the top of the head within a band of detailed, wavy hair. Behind this groove is a further indentation, but it is unclear if this is damage.

The female face is precisely detailed. The nose is wide, but noticeably flat when viewed in profile. There is a marked ridge running across the forehead, just above the nose and eyes, but it is unclear if this is a circlet. The pointed oval eyes are highlighted by curved grooves and the eyeballs are defined by indented dots. There are the remains of slightly prominent lips, divided by a groove, but the surface is rather unclear at this point. The surface of the chin has been chipped, but it appears to be rounded rather than pointed. In fact, the features of the female depicted in the bust tend to be robust and rounded, rather than fine and angular. When viewed in plan, the face is set within wavy hair, although a broadly triangular area of the forehead, above the horizontal ridge, does not appear to be covered by hair. The detail of the waves in the hair only features on a narrow band around the head – at the back of the bust the hair is not detailed.

A thick neck joins the head of the bust to a sub-circular torso. When viewed in profile the torso is at around 45 degrees to the orientation of the head. There is curved ridge below the neck, presumably dress or jewellery. Below this are two raised breasts – rounded features each with a straight sided tail which tapers to a point towards the shoulders of the bust. At the base of the torso there are at least two curved recessed lines - arcs, one within the other, but the bust is damaged here and around much of the edges of the torso.

The bust is 53.2mm from the top of the head to the base of the torso, with a maximum width of 33.0mm, across the torso. The bust is 27.7mmm from the front of the head to the back of the torso. It weighs 73.82g. The bust has a well developed green patina, but the surface has suffered some chipping around the edges of the torso in particular, and also around the chin area. The rear of the top of the head has some large indentations, but it is unclear what is damage and what was cast.

In: “Roman Bronze Figurines of the Catuvellauni and Trinovantes” (1979), Pitts notes that bronze busts and figurines were used in a number of contexts. One of the main uses for bronze was in domestic utensils, such as lamps, dishes, jugs, and skillets, where figured ornament is employed as handles, spouts and supports (ibid. p.3). In furniture, small busts or figures were positioned at the top of furniture legs (ibid. p.4). Pitts also notes that some bronze heads and busts are made for fastening onto the ends of poles and sceptres, with possibly religious and civil functions (ibid.p8). Pitts points out that the majority of figures are in some senses religious and many are of a classical type, although often with celtic stylistic differences (ibid. p.26). Purely human figures are also recorded (ibid. p.9).

In: “Two Romano-British Bronze Terminals in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford”, P.D.C. Brown (1973, p264-265) discusses two female busts which are similar in form and style to the object recorded here (museum accession numbers 1927.568 and 1937.123). Brown suggests that both are fittings for furniture (ibid. p.264). They have broken ridges of metal on the inside for fixing, although the example recorded here does not appear to have such a fitting. Reviewing continental catalogues, Brown (ibid.) notes that: “There are several pieces of the same general type, particularly among steelyard weights, but there is nothing which is anywhere near as similar to these pieces as they are to each other. This seems a good reason to suggest that they are of local, Romano-British workmanship rather than imports.”

In: “Two Busts from Littlecote” (Bryn Walters, 1988, p.407-410), Martin Henig reports on two bacchic busts found near to the Romano-British villa in Littlecote Park, Wiltshire. These have either a socket or a fixing on the reverse. Sally Worrell, PAS Finds Adviser (pers. comm.), notes that the example described in this record is more stylised that the busts described by Henig, but comments that it is possible that it is also Bacchic in style and could represent a maenad. Worrell (pers. comm.) adds that the provincial style of the facial features, particularly the triangular nose, is shared by that on the mounts from Broughton Hackett, Worcestershire, recorded as objects WAW-2EFFB6 and WAW-2F4145, and also published in "Roman Britain in 2005 (II Finds Reported under the Portable Antiquities Scheme)" (Worrell, 2006).

Worrell (pers. comm.) notes that there does not appear to be any trace of iron on the mount recorded here, and comments that it is more likely to have been soldered onto a vessel or box in a similar way to the small bust of cupid from Abinger, Surrey, recorded as object SUR-1AC0D5, and also published in "Roman Britain in 2005 (II Finds Reported under the Portable Antiquities Scheme)" (Worrell, 2006).

There are few bronze figurines from datable contexts (see Pitts, ibid. p.39-40). Pitts adds that: “stylistic dating methods are very difficult to apply to bronze figurines since different standards of workmanship do not result from different dates of manufacture but from variability in the skill of the producers, and the market at which each was aimed”. (Ibid. p.40). As such, this bust can be dated to the Roman period (AD43-410), but without further context, it is not possible to date the object more precisely.