Weight with Feline Finials

The upper terminal of the weight is made up of the foreparts of two addorsed animals, probably feline (1). They have small pointed ears and large incised, frog-like mouths. One has a vertical line incised down its brow next to its left ear. The forepaws are not indicated except by general shape. There is a pointed knob between the two heads. The area of their joined bodies, which is flat on each side, is pierced by a circular drilled suspension hole. The circular-sectioned shaft is decorated by thin raised lines in pairs at four spots. There is a large bulbous ring in the center and a pointed globular knob at the bottom terminal of the shaft. The weight may have been used on a plumb line, with surveying equipment, or perhaps for a ship's sounding line (2). NOTES: 1. An almost identical can be seen in Ars Antiqua AG: Lagerkatalog 4 (Lucern), Dec. 1969, lot. 5, although it is there described as possibly a clapper, perhaps for a large bell. See also A. de Ridder, Les bronzes antiques du Louvre 2: Les instruments (Paris, 1915) no. 3489, pl. 118. 2. For an example of a plumb-weight from a Roman context, see Piccoli bronzi del Real museo borbonico (Naples, 1858) table 2, esp. no. 6. Lisa M. Anderson