CIRCA 3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE VOTIVE HAND
CIRCA 3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.
With thumb, index and middle fingers supporting a small sphere, a snake curling around the shaft and wrist and up the back of the hand, its head appearing between the index and middle fingers, a flat teardrop-shaped pendant suspended from its mouth, the hand tapering into a rounded shaft
11 7/8 in. (30.2 cm.) high

Provenance

with N. Koutoulakis, Geneva.
Private collection, Europe, acquired from the above in the 1960s; and thence by descent to the present owner.

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Lot Essay

Denis Haynes, former head of the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum, suggested that this piece is Romano-Egyptian in origin (private correspondence). The snake and ball motif was common throughout the Roman world, the former noted for its apotropaic qualities and its association with regeneration and renewal, and the latter as a symbol of Jupiter and the universe.

Votive hands are often associated with the cult of Sabazius, which gained popularity throughout the Roman Empire. It is thought that they were placed in shrines or carried as part of religious processions, and they are often decorated with a variety of symbols including snakes, pine cones and frogs.

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