A Marble Cockerel from the Bradwell Roman Villa, Buckinghamshire

A Marble Cockerel from the Bradwell Roman Villa, BuckinghamshireAuthor(s): Miranda J. GreenSource: Britannia, Vol. 5 (1974), pp. 381-383Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/525743 .

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NOTES 381

undercut folds of the veil.' Cf. BMQ, pl. vIII, for the lips. We have here again an un- exceptionable feature of Julio-Claudian style.

One consideration that should induce suspicion-a consideration that was not clearly mentioned by Painter though it is found in Haverfield, Arch. Anzeiger 19 II, col. 3o8, and in Toynbee:3s the early date of the head considering the date of the conquest of Britain, particularly when the person represented, whoever it is, is not one who might have attracted the reverence of a later generation. We must with Haverfield and Toynbee consider it brought into Britain after a grand tour. A Greek funerary relief was found in somewhat similar circumstances in the rectory garden at Ewhurst, Sussex, JHS 48 (1928), 44-5. A bronze bust of Caligula did, however, find its way to Britain from Gaul in ancient times: Eugenie Strong, 'A bronze bust of a Julio-Claudian prince (? Caligula) in the Museum of Colchester', JRS vi (1916), 27-46, It is worthwhile speculating that, in view of our own difficulties in identifying portraits of the Julio-Claudian family, the owner thought it represented someone more reputable, much in the way that the eques- trian Marcus Aurelius of the Campidoglio was preserved to us because it was considered to be Constantine the Great.

I want to propose that the Broadbridge head is a portrait of Caligula. A good discussion with illustrations can be found in V. Poulsen, 'Portraits of Caligula', Acta Arch. 29 (1958), 175-90. The Broadbridge head bears a strong resemblance to these, particularly the profile, and special mention might be made of the Louvre portrait, p. 182, fig. 7. This group often shares the turn and lean to the right; notice the partly opened mouth of fig. 15, p. I86, and the hair of figs. 1-2, p. 176. Moreover, a very recent article, H. Kyrieleis, 'Zu einem Kameo in Wien', Arch. Anzeiger 85 (1971), 492-8, provides excellent comparative material for the shape of the head, the profile and the hair, based on an indisputable coin portrait (p. 497, Abb. 6). I am convinced that the Broadbridge head represents Caligula, and that it is a genuine ancient work of about A.D. 38.

University of Melbourne

3s J. M. C. Toynbee, Art in Britain Under the Romans, 46, '. . . it is not very easy to envisage a Roman official who arrived in Britain in, or after, 43, bringing with him a portrait of so much earlier a date, even as an heirloom'.

A Marble Cockerel from the Bradwell Roman Villa, Buckinghamshire. Miranda J. Green writes:* A small sculpture in the round of a cockerel (FIG. 2, PL. xxxiv) was discovered in 197336 during preliminary excavations at the recently discovered villa at Old Bradwell in north Buckinghamshire.37 The investigations so far carried out reveal what is probably a winged corridor villa. The uppermost levels only were examined and these proved to be of fourth-century date. Two geometric mosaics were revealed in excavated rooms and a third mosaic, with red-on-white swastika pattern, was found in the corridor.

The cockerel is 10-2 cm high and is of Carrara marble. There is ample evidence to suggest that it has been broken off a larger carving. It is worked in considerably more detail on one side than on the other, which implies that it-was meant to be viewed from one angle; the feathers have been merely indicated on the one side and the sculptor

* I would like to thank Professor J. M. C. Toynbee both for her comments on the cockerel and for critically reading through this paper; Lady (Aileen) Fox and Mr. M chael Griffiths for permission to mention the Exeter find; Mr. R. Wilkins for his photography of the object and Stephen Green for his help and advice.

36 Present location: Bradwell Abbey Field Centre, Old Bradwell, Wolverton, Bucks. 37 The grid reference is SP 826404. Excavations were directed by H. Stephen Green, Field Archaeo-

logist for the Milton Keynes Development Corporation.



382 NOTES

ba

FIGA. 0

Marble cockerel from the Bradwell Roman villa, Buckinghamshire (-).

only troubled to depict one eye. Professor J. M. C. Toynbee agrees with the writer that the date of manufacture of the carving may well have been the late second century and suggests that it is a good example of probably Gaulish or even British manufacture from an imported block of marble. Professor Toynbee remarked that the worked eye was probably filled, in antiquity, with coloured glass paste, and pointed out that the reason for the bird being supported on a pillar of marble must have been because the carved legs, if left freestanding, would have been too fragile to bear its weight.

If the cockerel, as the evidence would seem to suggest, is part of a larger sculptured group, then it is probable that it represents an emblem or attribute of some deity-not that the depiction of cockerels in Roman art necessarily indicates a religious connection, for Professor Toynbee has drawn attention38 to the representation of fighting cocks; and mosaics from Jerash and Sabratha depict cockerels and hens together. However, the gentle mien of the Bradwell cock certainly does not suggest a fighting bird, nor do there appear to be examples of in-the-round marble sculptures of domestic poultry in merely decorative themes.

The deity whose constant companion is the cockerel is the classical god Mercury. He often appears in Roman and Romano-Celtic iconography with several animals, including the cock, tortoise and ram or goat, all symbolizing various aspects of his classical mythology. The marble Mercury group from the London Mithraeum shows some animal emblems which include the ram but not the cock.39 However, some stone reliefs in Britain do depict the god with the cockerel, for example at Cirencester and at Gloucester.40 The cock also appears with Mercury on several Gaulish reliefs, e.g. at Chalon sur Sa6ne,41 which depicts Mercury with caduceus and purse, accompanied by a goat and tortoise, as well as by a cock standing on a pillar. A fragmentary relief from Beaune42 depicts a cock similar to the Bradwell example, in that the wattles and coxcomb are prominent, and this may have once been part of a Mercury group. Cockerels appear with Mercury at Le Donon, on a lost but drawn relief,43 at Nancy44 and at Laneuville-

38J. M. C. Toynbee (1973), Animals in Roman Life and Art, 257. 39J. M. C. Toynbee (1962), Art in Roman Britain, cat. no. 69, pl. LXIIIm. 40J. M. C. Toynbee (1964), Art in Britain Under the Romans, pl. XL a and b (Corinium Museum and

Gloucester City Museum respectively). 41 Esperandieu no. 2132. 42 Esperandieu no. 2101. 43 Espirandieu no. 4584. 44 Esperandieu no. 4683.



NOTES 383

devant-Nancy.45 In these three cases the cock stands to the right of Mercury, close to him but turned away.

If the Bradwell cockerel was part of a Mercury carving the angle at which the bird rests would seem to indicate that it leant against some object, quite possibly Mercury's leg; in that case it would have probably been gazing up into his face. Professor Toynbee estimates from the size of the bird that the complete sculpture would have stood about 45 cm high and she also suggests, from the treatment of the tail, that the cock stood at the end of the group.

If the view of the marble cockerel as a fragment of a Mercury group is accepted, it performed one of two roles in the life of the villa-dwellers. It may have been a purely decorative piece, like the Cupid-and-Psyche and Luna groups in marble from the Roman villa at Woodchester (Glos.),46 or the Bacchus from a grave at Spoonley Wood (Glos.),47 both of which were large and important sites. Alternatively, the sculpture may have had a genuinely religious significance, and if so may well have stood in a domestic shrine or lararium in the villa.48 The Italian marble of the carving would suggest a purely classical depiction of the god, a votive object intended for worship of the Graeco-Roman, rather than of the Romano-Celtic, version of Mercury.

The Bradwell sculpture is especially interesting since very few instances of marble (or indeed of any stone) religious figure-sculpture are known from Romano-British villas. There are, for instance, the marble sculptures mentioned above from Wood- chester and Spoonley Wood; the lost stone head of Ceres from Bignor (Sussex);49 the mother-goddesses/Mercury relief from Wellow (Somerset);so the figure of Atys from Froxfield (WVilts.).s' Perhaps the nearest parallel to our carving is the stone eagle from Cole's Hill, near Spoonley Wood (Glos.),52 which may well have had a religious associa- tion (with Jupiter or with an emperor in Jupiter's guise): but the treatment of the feathers there is far less naturalistic. From the towns there is nothing to compare closely with the Bradwell cockerel; the nearest parallel is the recently discovered (as yet un- published) fragment of a Purbeck marble bird, possibly an eagle, from Exeter,s3 and the recent find of a stone (?) eagle at Cirencester.54 In bronze, birds with similar treatment of plumage, etc. are known, for example, the eagle from Silchesterss and the fighting cock from London.56 There is also the exquisite miniature silver-gilt cockerel from Cirencester.s7 Thus the present discovery indicates the possibility of a certain distinction attaching to the Bradwell villa, which further excavation must investigate.

MIilton Keynes Development Corporation

45 Espirandieu no. 4696. 46 S. Lysons (i 797), An Account of the Roman Antiquities discovered at Woodchester in the County of Gloucester, pls. xxxvi-xxxx (British Museum).

47 British Museum (1922), Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain in the British Museum, 28, pl. in. 48A lararium has been suggested at the Roman villa at Bignor (plans at Bignor Villa Museum,

Sussex). S. E. Winbolt and G. Herbert (1934), The Roman Villa at Bignor. 49 A. L. F. Rivet (ed.) (1969), The Roman Villa in Britain, 154. so British Museum. A. L. F. Rivet (1969), loc. cit. (note 49), pl. 4.1 . 51 Ibid., pl. 4. I4- 52 Gloucester City Museum: JRS xlix (I959), 127, pl. xviii, fig. 6. 53 Photograph in Current Archaeology No. 39 (July 1973: vol. 4, no. 4), o106. Information from Professor

J. I. C. Toynbee, Lady (Aileen) Fox and Mr. Michael Griffiths. 54 Information from Professor J. NM. C. Toynbee. s5 G. C. Boon (1957), Roman Silchester, pl. xv. 56 British Museum. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (1928), Roman London, pl.

LXVlI. 57JRS lviii (1968), 198, no. 136; pl. xvII, fig. 3.

A Coin -of Valentinian III from Wroxeter. Mr. John Casey writes: In an appendix to the second edition of his account of the excavations at Wroxeter in i86o, Thomas Wright published a list of the coins found on the site and then preserved in



(Photo: R. L. Wilkins)

Marble cockerel from the Bradwell Roman villa, Buckinghamshire (1) (p. 381).

BRITANNIA, VOL. V (1974) NOTES

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A Marble Cockerel from the Bradwell Roman Villa, Buckinghamshire