A SET OF TWO ROMAN BRONZE STRIGILS, the handles of the long curved scrapers attached to a large circular ring -- 10.3/8 in. (26.5 cm) long, circa 1st Century B.C./A.D.; and a late Roman bronze ladle, the hemispherical bowl with chased concentric circles on the base, with spreading volutes on the rim, the handle rising to a high loop terminating in an ass head -- 11 in. (28 cm.) high, circa 4th-6th Century A.D. (2)

Details

A SET OF TWO ROMAN BRONZE STRIGILS, the handles of the long curved scrapers attached to a large circular ring -- 10.3/8 in. (26.5 cm) long, circa 1st Century B.C./A.D.; and a late Roman bronze ladle, the hemispherical bowl with chased concentric circles on the base, with spreading volutes on the rim, the handle rising to a high loop terminating in an ass head -- 11 in. (28 cm.) high, circa 4th-6th Century A.D. (2)

Lot Essay

Cf. J. Ward-Perkins and A. Claridge, Pompeii AD79, London, 1976, p. 232, no. 230 for similar, "Before the introduction of fat-based soaps in the late Empire, the cleansing medium used by athletes in the palaestra and by bathers ... was a mixture of low-grade olive oil and pumice. This was applied to the body and then scraped off by means of a ... strigil ... Sets of strigils ... are commonly found attached to a loop which went round the wrist for convenience in carrying."

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