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Antique Roman Terracotta Pot with Snakes
Ref: 5581
Remarkable enough for it’s age and condition, it is also a beautiful object, with pleasing globe or onion form that is typical of large Roman and Byzantine pots, it has lovely colour bleached out pale terracotta colour with a dusting of what might have been white paint once, of interest too is the design with two snakes confronted, this is an ancient symbol in the Mediterranean region & known as the ‘caduceus’, the Greek god Hermes had seen two snakes fighting & touched them with his rod, the two animals stopped fighting, so the image of confronted snakes frozen in counterpoise became an emblem of peace & was adopted by Mediterranean traders & commercial enterprises as a sign that in business between various tribes there is no war.
The ‘caduceus’ should not be confused with the ‘rod of asclepius’ though it has been historically, the snake coiled around a rod or staff, has been since time immemorial as a symbol of the medical profession, & the ‘caduceus’, twinned snakes coiled around a staff or olive branch have been mistakenly associated, so you would see 19th century apothecaries with twinned snake signs outside & medical associations in the US still adopt it, originally however the ‘caduceus’ was a symbol of commerce.
This pot which is very clean inside was used for grain (not oil as is often assumed in the case of these old large pots) given it’s size & weight & the care taken in it’s manufacture & decoration it may have been permanently sited, & possibly also it was outside on the street, indicating to passers by through it’s signification, that here was a commercial premises or dealer’s house.
Eastern Mediterranean c.1st-4th cent. AD
H: 100cm (39.4in)
W: 90cm (35.4in)
D: 90cm (35.4in)
£3400
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