Roman
200–300 AD
Bronze
Diameter: 5¼ in (13.3 cm), with custom museum mount
Provenance: Martha Pillard, Honolulu, Hawaii; Christian Rub, Santa Barbara, California
Door fittings cast in the form of lion heads were among the most common decorative hardware in Roman domestic and civic architecture, serving both functional and apotropaic purposes. The lion, associated with strength and protection, was a standard guardian motif across the Roman world from the first century onward. Examples in bronze of this quality were typically produced for households of means, where metalwork signaled status as well as taste.
This piece is cast with confident relief, the lion's mane rendered in radiating strands with a naturalism consistent with Roman workshop production of the High Imperial period. The ring passes through the animal's open mouth in the standard knocker configuration, and the surface carries an even green patina developed over centuries of burial or storage. Two American collections of note have held this piece, lending it a clear and traceable ownership history.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Roman
200–300 AD
Bronze
Diameter: 5¼ in (13.3 cm), with custom museum mount
Provenance: Martha Pillard, Honolulu, Hawaii; Christian Rub, Santa Barbara, California
Door fittings cast in the form of lion heads were among the most common decorative hardware in Roman domestic and civic architecture, serving both functional and apotropaic purposes. The lion, associated with strength and protection, was a standard guardian motif across the Roman world from the first century onward. Examples in bronze of this quality were typically produced for households of means, where metalwork signaled status as well as taste.
This piece is cast with confident relief, the lion's mane rendered in radiating strands with a naturalism consistent with Roman workshop production of the High Imperial period. The ring passes through the animal's open mouth in the standard knocker configuration, and the surface carries an even green patina developed over centuries of burial or storage. Two American collections of note have held this piece, lending it a clear and traceable ownership history.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
