COSMETIC PESTLE 79858

Description: Incomplete copper alloy centre-looped probable Roman cosmetic pestle, missing one end and just over half of its loop. Its incomplete length is 47mm and it weighs 5.05g. The pestle is rather curious in that its form is not symmetrical. Indeed, it is S-shaped and similar to an end-looped pestle, missing its end loop (broken) and with a central one instead. It is also curious in that it appears to be upside-down - the loop, although on the flatter side (the pestle is triangular in section), apparantly projecting downwards - but of course this does rather depend on which end of the pestle was being used. The broken end may well have been the one. The other end is slightly flatter to the sides, thinner and knobbed (4mm wide, 3mm thick). The loop is actually rather off-centre. At this point, 16mm from the knobbed end, it is 5mm thick and 5mm wide, narrowing to a point over 5mm. Moving towards the knobbed end, there is a V-shaped moulding and the pestle becomes much thinner (3mm). In the other direction, the pestle gradually thins over 22mm to 3mm at the break. The loop is c.7.5mm in diameter (internal 4.5mm). If indeed this is a cosmetic pestle, there are no parallels in Jackson's Britannia article (Cosmetic Sets from Late Iron Age and Roman Britain, 1985, pp.165-192).

Object type: COSMETIC PESTLE

Last import: August 15, 2017