A Roman Bronze Balsamarium, circa 2nd Century A.D.

with grooved concave base, piriform body, narrow sloping rim, leaf-shaped handle attachments, and arched swivel handle of quadrangular section with recurved ends in the form of stylized duck heads, a chain connecting the fragmentary lid to the handle, the body decorated in relief with a continuous frieze showing two large lion skins stretched between two herm pillars and bound to them with broad fillets, each herm standing on a stepped base and surmounted by the head of a youth, the head of Hermes and his kerykeion protruding above one of the skins, a circular object before him, the head of bearded Herakles with his club visible above the other skin, a pair of jumping-weights(?) before him.

European private collector, acquired in the mid 1960s
acquired by the present owner in 1995

For the form see Toronto, Greek, Roman, and Related Metalware, nos. 144-145. Roman bronze situlae with relief decoration are more commonly of depressed globular form; see, for instance, Collection Dutuit, no. 80: the author notes that these vessels were probably used as balsamaria, or anointing oil containers, since some of them were found alongside bronze strigils, or scrapers. The iconography of the present example is consistent with its use in athletics and exercising; statues of Hermes and Herakles were necessary accoutrements of Greek-style gymnasia down to the Roman period. The 2nd Century A.D. Greek writer Pausanias enumerates "Hermes, Herakles and Theseus, who are honored in the gymnasium and wrestling-ground according to a practice universal among Greeks, and now common among barbarians" (4.32.1).

Related examples of bronze balsamaria with relief decoration appropriate to their use in athletics and contests include a vessel with ovoid body found in Sisteron, France, and formerly in the de Caylus collection (see H. Rolland, Bronzes antiques de Haute-Provence (Basses-Alpes, Vaucluse), Paris, 1965, no. 298). It shows Hermes Agonios, or "Hermes of the Contests," depicted as a herm of a youth with lion skin draped around his neck and holding a kerykeion, and a herm of Herakles holding the club, both presiding over the wrestling match between Herakles and Anteus, a tripod and wreath awaiting the victor. For a 2nd/3rd Century A.D. Roman silver cup depicting the same herm of Hermes Agonios together with scenes alluding to the Isthmian Games, which were held near Corinth, see Baratte and Painter, Trésors d’orfèvrerie gallo-romains, no. 18. For a globular bronze balsamarium decorated with a frieze of athletic contests see Fleischman Collection, no. 151.