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The Bronze Serpent (a Brainteaser)
Among the collection of small collections that I’ve accumulated willy-nilly over the years is a group of ancient Roman brooches.
Each item in this menagerie is interesting enough to be the centerpiece of its own blog post. But there’s one brooch that I particularly like because within its contours lies an elegant little puzzle. This puzzle gives a flavor of how Ambrose reasons in Tetraktys.
The brooch, as you see, is shaped like a serpent; the handsome green is a patina that formed over the bronze. Richard Hattatt, a major collector, and writer of four books on ancient brooches, once owned it. On the right is the hand-drawn sketch he published in his Iron Age and Roman Brooches. Hattatt called the brooch a “freak.” It was originally circular or “penannular,” a common shape in antiquity—as with the brooches you see below, which Hattatt sketched on the same page as the “S-brooch.”
Many centuries ago, however, someone bent this brooch from its original, circular shape into a serpentine one. Who reworked it and why this person did so, we’ll never know.
But what we do know is that the S-brooch was refashioned in the ancient world, and not after it was unearthed by someone in the south of England. So here’s the puzzle: How do we know? Here’s one more picture, to help reveal the clue…
To learn the answer, click here!
Hi
Having been a serious collector some years ago I corresponded with Richard Hattatt and a number of my scarcer brooches are referenced in one of his books (still have most of those published brooches).
I remember lookin at this when printed but it is not easy to make an assessment of any reworking without actually seeing the item. I did feel that it was unlikely unless it was refashioned by a Smith to prevent reverse stressing of the metal.
Having looked at your photo of the item it does look as though it may have been manufactured the way it is today. Perhaps the only way to be certain would be to send it to a lab for analysis; the British Museum (Valerie Rigby) have been very helpful in the past.
There is absolutely no reason why this brooch could not have been initially designed and made this way.
I still collect brooches from time to time but I now collect as and when something takes my fancy.