A Roman silver bracelet
Probably Eastern Mediterranean, circa 250-300 A.D.
With a bitumen core, one shorter side openable by two hinges, and the entirety worked in repoussé, the convex hoop with flattened interior, the exterior divided into six sections, each with three registers, all demarcated by banded borders, the central scenes comprising: a male figure holding a whip (?) in his hand with a dog in front of him, a male rider on horseback, wearing a cloak and carrying a spear, a lion with raised tail, looking back over its shoulder, a recumbent deer with a star in the field, and the latter two scenes repeated on the short, removable section, the upper register with: a wreath in the central panel, running animals in the panels to either side, and the lower register with: running animals in two panels, circular wreaths in two panels, and arrangements of three leaves in a fan motif in two panels, 10.5cm diam.注脚Provenance:
Acquired in the Middle East prior to WW1 (according to Lepage).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 9 July 1973, lot 37.
Private collection, London.

Published:
C. Lepage, 'Un bracelet romain en argent repussé', Objets. Revue semestrielle d'Art et d'Archéologie, ARKE, Geneva, 1970, p. 11-17.

Lepage suggests that the male figure on foot, accompanied by the dog, is the servant of the male figure riding on horseback in the box behind him; it is likely that the bracelet depicts a hunting scene.