Acquisition number: 1980.09
Other images
The mounts form the sides for one end of a couch. They are fairly well preserved except for occasional areas of damage to the surface. One mount is virtually complete. Each mount is of π-shaped section. They have three parts, a curved member at the bottom with projecting foot, then an offset bulging member terminating above in an M, then a straight thinner element with rounded edge. The outer faces have a groove parallel to the edges.
The elements are at present mounted on a canvas-covered stand.
Title: Two Bronze Mounts for a Couch - 1980.09
Acquisition number: 1980.09
Culture or period: Roman Imperial
Date: 1st century AD.
Material: Metal - Bronze
Object type: Other
Dimensions: 69mm (w) × 555mm (h)
Display case or on loan: 11
Keywords: Roman, Imperial, Furniture
Charles Ede Ltd (London), Antiquities 116 (1980) no. 35 (ill.)
1980.09
Two Bronze Mounts for a Couch
Purchased. Max. ht ca 55.5cm; width of each ca 6.2 – 6.9cm; metal thickness ca 0.3cm.
The mounts form the sides for one end of a couch. They are fairly well preserved except for occasional areas of damage to the surface. One mount is virtually complete. Each mount is of π-shaped section. They have three parts, a curved member at the bottom with projecting foot, then an offset bulging member terminating above in an M, then a straight thinner element with rounded edge. The outer faces have a groove parallel to the edges.
The elements are at present mounted on a canvas-covered stand.
First century AD.
Cf. S. Boucher, “Les lits grecs en bronze de Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère)”, Gallia 40, 1982, 171-193; also S. Faust, Fulcra. Figürlicher und ornamentaler Schmuck an antiken Betten (RM 30. Beiheft, Mainz 1989). More generally, see the articles in the volumes on the Mahdia shipwreck. They discuss similar mounts of the Hellenistic period and reconstruct the couches they came from: S. Faust, “Die Klinen”, in: G. Hellenkemper Salies G. with H.-H. von Prittwitz und Gaffron and G. Bauchhenß (eds), Das Wrack. Der antike Schiffsfund von Mahdia (Cologne 1994) 573-606, and U. Sobottka-Braun, “Rekonstruktion der Klinen”, ib. ii, 999-1006. Another interesting collection of such pieces from a shipwreck: C. Baudoin, B. Liou and L. Long, “Une cargaison de bronzes hellénistiques. L'épave Fourmigue C à Golfe- Juan”, Archaeonautica 12, 1994, 5-143.
There is general discussion in G.M.A. Richter, The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans (London 1966) 105-110, and E. De Carolis, Il mobile a Pompei ed Ercolano. Letti, tavoli, sedie e armadi. Contributo alla tipologia dei mobili della prima età imperiale (Studia Archaeologica, 151, Rome 2007). For more elaborate versions from Pompeii, see L.P. Biroli Stefanelli (ed.), Il bronzo dei Romani: arredo e suppellettile (Rome 1990) 68-79 with 162-180 figs 119-149; M. Mastroroberto, “Gli arredi domestici”, in: Menander. La casa del Menandro di Pompei (Milan 2003) 110-131.
In a popular introduction to the subject, A.T. Croom, Roman Furniture (Stroud 2007) considers beds and couches at pp. 32-40 and deals with the materials used in furniture at 10-31.
Charles Ede Ltd (London), Antiquities 116 (1980) no. 35 (ill.)