Ledge Handle with Rams' Heads on Sides

The decoration on the exterior of the handle consists of curling tendrils within a rope border; the head of a ram in profile is shown on each side (1). The heads are naturalistically rendered, with wooly fleece indicated by means of a dimpled pattern on the head and neck. Each segmented horn curves around the pointed ear; the hairs on the inside of the ear are depicted. On each side, the eye is inlaid with silver, and a raised circle with a central depression indicates the iris and pupil of the eye. The snout and nostrils are molded, while a line indicates the mouth. On the front of the handle, between the noses of the two heads, a band of short vertical lines is surrounded on all sides by a beaded border. The back of the handle is open, and the underside is concave and undecorated. The walls of the handle are relatively thick, especially at the back, although they are thinner nearer the front. The exact function of this object is not entirely clear; the handle’s form best resembles that of pottery bell kraters, but no bronze bell kraters have survived from antiquity. It might have been a decorative element for a piece of furniture, as is suggested for the Thorvaldsen Museum example. NOTES: 1. Compare a similar piece in the Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen, published in T. Melander, Thorvaldsens antikke bronzer (Copenhagen, 2009) 97, no. 130, fig. 73. The Copenhagen piece is described as a decorative furniture element, potentially to cover the end of an armrest, dated to the fifth to fourth centuries BCE. Lisa M. Anderson