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Sale 35
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Lot 904
Very Important Cavalry Parade Mask, in Brass. Roman Empire, c. late 1st century BC. to 1st century AD. The stylized face with eye, nostril and mouth openings. The cheeks decorated with turned spiral decoration (perhaps solar images), along with ornate stylized pattern of archs around the edges. The remains of hinge for attachment to helmet at the brow. Repairs, with museum grade, nearly invisible restorations at edges. Height: 5-3/4". A compelling visage. The rarest and most intriguing form of ancient armor.
Estimated Value $30,000 - 40,000.
Published: H. Born and M. Junkelmann, "Romische Kampf - und Turnierrustungen: Sammlung Axel Guttmann," VI, Mainz, 1997, pp.16-17, 81-84, 174-175, 166, pls.VI, 7, 8, 66 and 101 (AG 369); and M. Junkelmann, "Reiter wie Statuen aus Erz," Mainz, 1996, p.93, O89.
Certainly one of the more exotic pieces of the Roman soldier's armor, to modern eyes, was the face helmet. With a normal but often amplified helmet, plus the flip down face mask, this construction generally encased the head completely. Of this ornate, specialized type of armor some 120 examples are known. They have been encountered in various archaeological sites, dating from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD., in locales ranging from Scotland to Syria.
The faces themselves are often those of idealized youths, and some whose gender is less secure, while a few are assuredly portraits of women. If all the wearers are assumed to be men, then this raises interesting questions within the context of Rome's, aggressive, military-dominant society - especially since masks in modern day psychological literature are accepted as surrogates for the head, and one's likeness itself. Thus, they transfigure the wearer, allowing him to transcend his personal, regular identity. In any event, they add a compelling and intriguing cast to a society, as Rome was, where violence became aestheticized, and thence one more aspect of theater in general.
Axel Guttmann Museum Collection, Germany. Acquired in 1991, Zurich, Switzerland.
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