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Exceptional Roman Bronze Arm, Hand & Purse of Mercury
CULTURE / REGION OF ORIGIN: Roman Britain
DATE: 2nd-3rd Century AD
DIMENSIONS: 4 cm (1.57 in.) long, 3.5 cm (1.38 in.) tall
DESCRIPTION: A beautifully preserved hollow cast bronze arm and hand holding a purse from a statuette of the Roman god Mercury (equivalent to the Greek god Hermes). The arm is bent at the elbow, in the god’s typical stance, and the detailed hand grasps a shepherds purse. Mercury was the patron god of financial gain and commerce, among others roles, and statuettes of the god were especially popular in the western European provinces of the Empire. Mercury’s Greek equivalent, Hermes, was also a protector of shepherds, so his purse, which resembles an animal skin, is referred to as a shepherds purse. Unlike most smaller statuette fragments, this example is just large enough to have come from a hollow cast statuette, probably from a household or military shrine. The point at which the arm has broken away from the statuette reveals its hollow inside. The surfaces are a very smooth dark green, almost black, with small areas of pale earthen highlighting.
PROVENANCE: Oxfordshire, UK metal detecting find, declared not treasure and legally exported.
COMPARISONS: See the UK Portable Antiquities Scheme online database, object SF-EBF-303, for a smaller hand and purse found in Suffolk, and the British Museum collections online, number 1851,0813.9 for a complete figurine of Mercury found in France, measuring about 6 inches tall, holding the purse in this same posture.
