Ca. AD 50 - 300.
A Roman gilded bronze cast umbo type-brooch with peripheral engraved decoration. The raised, disc-shaped panel has white enamel inlay on the top. The central panel is decorated with two concentric rings. Fibula was of fundamental importance in the ancient world and specifically in the Roman world because it had a social differentiation. The main function of the fibula was to keep one of the most important garments in ancient clothing, the cloak, on. But in the Roman Empire this small object also had the function of distinguishing social classes. From the second century, when the Roman economy was at its peak, fibulae were, together with gems, the most widely sold luxury item throughout the empire. For similar see: British museum number. 1924,0502.5.
Size: 26mm x 25mm; Weight: 9g
Provenance: Private UK collection; From an old London collection formed in the 1990s.