First time at auction…

Roman, Imperial Period, River Danube, ca. early 3rd to early 4th century CE. An intriguing lead votive plaque known as a "Danubian Rider plaque" featuring a complex iconography relating to the pre-Christian religions of the Lower Danube region. Intended to be read from the bottom up, the lowest layer represents earth or the mortal world with an animal sacrifice at the center surrounded by tables and candles prepared for a cult feast. A goddess with arms spread presides over the humans, flanked by a pair of horsemen in Phrygian caps who trample prone male figures. Finally, at the top are Luna and Sol around snakes drinking from a crater, and a fish with stars above the twisted border. The iconography of these plaques indicates a syncretism between Danubian Celtic and Eastern religious and mystical beliefs, which spread throughout the Empire in the second and third centuries. Several researchers have attempted typologies of these lead votive plaques; this example is considered Ertl type F1. Size: 3" W x 3.5" H (7.6 cm x 8.9 cm)

Lead was regularly used for votive items and curse tablets throughout the Roman Empire as it was considered a magical metal that was connected with offerings, luck, and the dead. Plaques like this have almost exclusively been found along the Danube limes, from Dacia and Moesia Inferior, through Moesia Superior and Pannonian Inferior where they are most common, and into Pannonia Superior and Noricum. This distribution pattern has caused some researchers to attribute them primarily to the Roman military, while others have assigned them to the general population of immigrants from eastern lands (Asia Minor, Syria and Greece) who settled in the Balkans in the late second and third centuries.

Provenance: ex-private Massachusetts, USA collection, acquire before 2010.

#175301

Losses to top, as well as minor chips to peripheries and softening of detail throughout. Some light bending, but overall form is still clear. Rich earthen encrustations throughout.