Roman Military Chariot Mount Set

4th century AD. A matched group of four Constantinian hollow-formed bronze figural chariot fittings, each a youthful male face with tousled hair and fleshy features wearing a cuirass with closure above each shoulder, lorica segmentata shoulder defences; octagonal-section base with flared flange rim below. See Sim, D. & Kaminski, J. Roman Imperial Armour. The Production of Early Imperial Military Armour, Oxford, 2012, chapter 10 for discussion of lorica segmentata; see also Travis, H.& J. Roman Body Armour, Stroud, 2012. 1.9 kg total, 11.5cm each (4 1/2"). From the collection of a European gentleman living in South London; acquired 1970-1980. Roman chariots were not used as tactical military vehicles, unlike those of their British opponents. Rather, chariots were used as prestige personal transport available only to the wealthy and those of sufficiently high military rank to warrant the exclusive use of a team of horses and a driver. Aside from their routine use for transport, they played some considerable part in both military parades and triumphal processions, and in the arena where they were raced. Each chariot could be personalised by the addition of bronze fittings, created by lost-wax casting and therefore forming a unique set. Ornamental mounts such as the set presented here were positioned on vertical posts set above the wheels, where the brilliance of the polished bronze added lustre to the (painted? carved?) wooden frame of the vehicle. [4]
Condition Report: Very fine condition. A rare survival.