Ca. 100-300 AD. A bronze openwork swastika brooch with a catchplate on the reverse. The swastika was a symbol of lightning bolts in Roman art and is therefore associated with the thunder god, Jupiter. Brooches were an important element of Roman dress, used to fasten clothing but they also served as dress accessories in their own right. Thousands of different types and subtypes of Roman brooches are attested, and they seem to have played an important role in Roman people's self-expression. This item may have belonged to a devotee of Jupiter, probably a soldier, as he was a particularly important deity among Roman military communities. For comparable brooches, see The British Museum, Museum number 1874,1228.4; The Mougins Museum of Classical Art (MACM), Inv. n°: MMoCA615; Richard Hattatt (2000), A Visual Catalogue of Richard Hattatt's Ancient Brooches. Oxbow Books, p. 357, item 1145.Size: L:24.5mm / W:24.8mm ; 9.07gProvenance: From the private collection of a South London art professional; previously in a collection formed on the UK/European art market in the 1980s;