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Statuettes of Horsemen and Horses and other Votive Objects from Brigstock, Northants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

M. V. Taylor
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Extract

In 1956–7 a bronze statuette of horse and rider and another bronze object (a poletip or rattle) were found in a field a quarter of a mile south-west of Luscotes Lodge, Brigstock, and were published in Antiq. Journ. xxxvii, 71 with pi. xviii. In June 1958 a bronze statuette, cast solid, of a second horse, without rider, was found in the same field and is described below (no. 1). These finds seemed to confirm the possibility of a shrine or temple in the neighbourhood, and in consequence when deep ploughing seemed imminent the excavations described above by Mr. Greenfield were undertaken by the Ministry of Public Building and Works. In the course of this work further votive objects, including a third bronze statuette of horse and rider were discovered as recorded above. Of these, the statuettes and certain other objects form the subject of the following article.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , September 1963 , pp. 264 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1963

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References

page 264 note 1 A summary appeared in J.R.S. lii (1962), 172 ff.Google Scholar, figs. 20, 21.

page 264 note 2 It was found by Mr. M. Beasley of Brigstock and given by him to Mr. M. V. J. Seaborne of Corby Grammar School, by whose kind offices and those of Mr. Graham Webster, F.S.A., it was sent to me with a request to publish it.

page 264 note 3 See below, p. 268.

page 264 note 4 Alexandria Sociéte Royale d'Archélogie, Monuments de l'Égypte Gréco-Romaine, ii, fasc. i (Bergamo, 1930)Google Scholar, ‘Terrecotte figurate Greche e Greco-Egizie del Museo di Alessandria’, pl. 39, 5, p. 63.

page 265 note 1 Monuments Piot, xviii (1910), 103Google Scholar, figs. 30, 31.

page 265 note 2 Another writer, Perdrizet, , Negotium perambulans in tenebris (Strasbourg, 1922), 10 f.Google Scholar, compares the attitude of the Jupiter and Anguipede columns. Earlier, these figurines were regarded as illustrating circus scenes, see Weber, W., Die Ägyptisch-Griechischen Terrakotten (Berlin, 1914Google Scholar; i, 200, nos. 336, 337, pl. 31). Professor I. A. Richmond has suggested that the round object may have had a practical origin to produce a better balance. The bronze mounted statue of Gattamelata by Donatello outside the cathedral of S. Antony at Padua has its foreleg resting on a spherical object, the idea no doubt originating from some work of classical antiquity. Lions and other animals are frequently shown with one foreleg resting on a globe or ball.

page 265 note 3 Antiq. Journ. xxxvii (1957), 71Google Scholar, pi. xviii.

page 265 note 4 I owe information for this horse to Mr. D. R. Wilson of Oxford. Mr. F. T. Baker of Lincoln Museum suggests to me that the most likely site in Bourne is Park Farm immediately west of Bourne where coins and a tessellated pavement were found about 1776 (Marratt, Hist, of Lincs, iii, 81, hence Trollope, Sleaford and Wapentakes of Flaxwell and Aswardhurn (1872), p. 37).

page 265 note 5 Found in quarrying between 1879 and 1898, with objects of different dates, some coins said to be early, one Vespasian, but the account is far from clear; obviously the site enclosed by rampart and ditch is of more than one period (Walker, T. J., Brit. Arch. Assoc. Journ. N.S. V (1899), 60 fGoogle Scholar. pl. vi). The statuette is now in Peterborough Museum, and I am indebted to Mr. G. F. Dakin, hon. secretary to Peterborough Museum Society, Archaeological Field Section, for information and prints of the photographs.

page 266 note 1 This famous hoard is described by M. Rostovtzeff, J.R.S. xiii, 91 ff., pls. iii–vii. Because of the presence of a sceptre he thought it formed part of the official insignia of a magistrate or came from ‘a sanctuary of the great Celtic god or of the imperial cult’. But a different view of the sceptre or club was published by ProfessorAlföldi, in J.R.S. xxxix (1949), 19 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 266 note 2 A good bibliography will be found in an article discussing the representation of a horse in a mosaic in a temple area on the Magdalensberg by Egger, R. in Carinthia I, cxliii (1954), 24Google Scholar, fig. 12; 78 ff., figs. 34–37, a translation of which into French was published in Ogam, iv, no 24 (Dec. 1952), 298. E. Thevenot, Sur les traces des Mars Celtiaues (Diss. arch. Gandenses, vol. iii), Bruges, 1955, discusses the whole question and cites the examples mentioned above including an altar showing a mounted figure with shield and spear from Bisley (Glos.) now in the British Museum, Clifford, , Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc. Trans. (1938), 300Google Scholar, no. 6, pl. iii.

page 266 note 3 The motive of riding over a fallen barbarian is a very old one and is frequently found on cavalry tombstones; cf. above, p. 264, note 4.

page 266 note 4 Mantellier, P., Mémoire sur les Bronzes Antiques de Neuvy-en-Sullias (Paris, 1865)Google Scholar, which contains beautiful reproductions.

page 266 note 5 The museum building was destroyed in the Second World War and has not yet been rebuilt, the contents, including this treasure, still remaining in their packing cases, but a cast is to be seen in the Saint-Germain National Museum. I am indebted to Professor Heurgon for help in obtaining the photograph. Recently a splendid profile view of the horse's head has been illustrated in Eydoux, H. P., La France Antique (Plon, 1962), p. 238Google Scholar, no. 270.

page 267 note 1 C.I.L. xiii, 3071 (= Dessau, Inscr. Lat. Sel. 4684).

page 267 note 2 The name Rudiobus is thought to be related to Rudianus, who is associated with Mars in Mars Augustus Rudianus (C.I.L. xii, 1566, 2204), as inscribed on a statue of a rider-god with five heads below it. Two other bronze statuettes should be mentioned: (1) with its rider wearing a royal diadem and thought to be Constantine; it was found about 1836 at Altinum in north Italy and is now in the Kunst-historisches Museum, Vienna; it is 11–2 cm. high and 9·7 cm. long, has down-falling tail, and resembles in stance, except for the circular object, horse no. 1 above. Noll, R., Jahreshafte des OesterreicA. arch. Inst. in Wiert, xliii (1956–8), 113 ff.Google Scholar, figs. 45 a, b. (2) is much bigger (H.0.21) and probably earlier and its tail is short; it is now in Saint-Germain National Museum, Salle VII, vitrine 15. Varagnac, A. and Fabre, G., L'Art Gaulois (Paris, Zodiaque, 1956Google Scholar (La Nuit des Temps 4)), no. 56, p. 147.

page 267 note 3 E. Thevenot, op. cit. (note 2), pp. 37 ff. Many votive figurines of horses with armed riders bearing a shield and spear occur among the products of the Allier potteries and are thought to represent Mars, Tudot, Coll. de Figurines (1860), pl. 35.

page 268 note 1 The Guide to the Antiquities of the British Museum (1958), pp. 71 f., fig. 37.

page 268 note 2 London in Roman Times (1930), pp. iii f., fig. 36, showing one on top of another.

page 268 note 3 Antiq. Journ. xxxvii, 71, pl. xviii c.

page 268 note 4 London in Roman Times, p. 108, pi. XLVIII.