Suebian knot

[Kelvin Wilson]

Hello,

Does anyone recognise this particular piece of metalwork?

http://www.network54.com/Realm/thiudareiks/batmask2.jpg

...I had not seen it before and would like to hear date/findspot, if known.

Danke schön,


Kelvin Wilson

[Turms Kreutzfeldt]

I cannot see the pic with my firefox, sorry, something?s wrong.

[Kelvin Wilson]

Strange... it opens in Internet Explorer, though!


Kelvin

[Damion]

With Firefox, i just get a blank page.
Trying to download the image nevertheless, my graphic converter says:"Image has been corrupted or is in an unknown file format."
Than it shows some hexcode
Same with Opera, but it worked with Safari
I will try to upload the image.

[Hans T.]

[Thomas Trauner]

Can?t see anything, too....

Thomas

[Damion]

Geht mir genauso. :censored:
Firefox und Opera zeigen nur ein Grafiksymbol.
Safari zegt das Bild an.
Bin mit meinem Latein am Ende.

[Hans T.]

Jetzt?

[Kelvin Wilson]

That's it!!

Thanks Kelvin

[Damion]

Bingo!!

Was hast du geändert??

[Hans T.]

Bild kopiert und auf meinem Server abgelegt.

H.

[Hans T.]

@Kelvin
Never seen before. I have no idea what the purpose of this mask was.
The round eye holes reminds me on roman theater masks. Are you sure that it is made from metal?

.

[Kelvin Wilson]

No, I am not sure it is of metal, in fact. The site that shows it I believe refers to theater masks too.. says this one might have been painted with 'war paint'.


Kelvin

[Thomas Trauner]

Something known about the size or date ?
Never heard about a "barbaric" theatre mask.....
Strange thing.

Thomas

[Kelvin Wilson]

I've found it!!

There is a colour picture on this page: http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=11394 with a caption saying that it is "a small mask of a germanic face wearing a Suebian knot in the BM (Blaccus Collection). It had traces of red pigment on the face."

Because of the red paint, it is suggested that this is a (rare!) portrait of a Batavian. The same page quotes Martialis, the 1st century author: "I am a potters jest, the mask of a red faced Batavian. Though you make fun of it, a boy fears this face."


Looking at the photograph, the object seems to be on display at the British Museum. I will try to find out more when i go back there in May.
In the meantime, can anyone else now say something more... what, for instance, is the Blaccus Collection?

Thank you,


Kelvin Wilson