6 Ancient Animal Amulets | Roman Bronze Horse, Eagle, Lion and Bull

Roman, Imperial period; Central Asia, Bactria. A compact menagerie in miniature: five Roman cast copper alloy amulets, each a small-scale animal rendered with economical modeling, accompanied by a sixth amulet of Bactrian manufacture carved in abstract, angular stone. The Roman group comprises a striding horse in flat silhouette, a perched eagle, a bird with wings spread in flight, a lion's head worked in the round, and a recumbent bull in low relief plate form, several pierced for suspension. Surfaces carry the green and reddish oxidation typical of long burial. Zoomorphic amulets of this sort were worn as protective charms, invoking the strength, swiftness, or divine association of the creature depicted; the eagle in particular carried imperial and Jovian weight. The Bactrian piece, reduced to winged geometric volumes, belongs to a wholly separate Central Asian idol tradition. Roman animal amulets operated on a logic of sympathetic transfer: the wearer acquired something of the beast. Horses signaled speed and cavalry prowess and were popular among soldiers; lions promised ferocity and guardianship, and the lion mask appears repeatedly on furniture fittings, harness ornament, and apotropaic pendants alike. The eagle, sacred to Jupiter and standard-bearer of the legions, doubled as a political emblem and a protective device, while the bull carried associations with Mithraic devotion and with agricultural fertility. Bactria, the region spanning northern Afghanistan and southern Central Asia, produced small stone and metal idols from the Bronze Age onward, many reduced to severe geometric masses whose original meaning remains debated. The accompanying dealer card describes the piece as "an interesting amulet with a ghost like appearance," dated 2nd century BCE, a dealer attribution rather than an excavated one. Please note that the metal items in this lot contain from 2 to 31% lead. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 204917

Estimate:$350

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