14th-16th century AD. A large bronze statue of a reclining doe, legs tucked under the body, head held up and with ears back, iron pin inside the body; hole to the back for attachment. See the bronze deer from the Villa of the Papyri near Pompeii and now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionali di Napoli. 16.7 kg, 54cm long (19 1/4"). Property of a German gentleman; acquired from a collector in Southern Germany before 1989; accompanied by a report of metallurgic analytical results, written by Metallurgist Dr. Brian Gilmour of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford. This type of decorative statue adorned a villa garden, copying examples from Pompeii, Herculaneum and the surrounding area of Vesuvius. The doe was sacred to Diana, goddess of the moon and was also shown accompanying the cult image of Diana from the temple at Ephesus. The deer was also sacred to Juno Caelestis, consort to the eastern deity Jupiter Dolichenus, and she is normally shown standing on the back of a deer on votive reliefs and statues, such as that from Corbridge on Hadrian's Wall, the fixing hole in the back may have attached such a statue.