A ROMAN BRONZE FULCRUM TERMINAL

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE FULCRUM TERMINAL
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.
In the form of the head of a mule, superbly modelled with its head turned out to its left, with a thick mane of long pointed locks curving out in various directions, his long ears pulled back, the eyes inlaid in silver, the nostrils flaring, the mouth with the lips slightly parted, wearing a wreath of ivy and berries across the brow and the neck, the berries with inlaid silver, an animal pelt across its shoulders, folded back with the animal's paw at the corner, patterned with a band of wave and complex meander inlaid in silver, the animal's head below
6 in. (15.2 cm.) long

Provenance

Private Collection, Germany, 1980s.
Anonymous sale; Bonham's, London, 28 October 2009, lot 214.

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Lot Essay

Fulcra, or head boards, were commonly decorated with animal heads, and the choice of mules was especially popular for this subject, given their association with Bacchus and the use of such furniture in a symposium. For a complete bed with mule head terminal in the Museo Archeologico, Chieti see pls. 138-9 in Stefanelli, Il Bronze dei Romani. For a nearly identical example in reverse see pl. 248, no. 39 in Stefanelli, op. cit.

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