1st century BC-1st century AD. A bronze ewer handle, facetted and gently curved at the top; the lower finial a facing mask of Bacchus with vine-leaves wound into the hair falling on either side of the face, diadem to the brow; the upper finial with two C-section arms extending laterally to sit upon the rim of the vessel, thumb-pad formed as a female head with hair drawn back from the face in a chignon; mounted on a custom-made stand. Cf. Tassinari, S., La Vaisselle de Bronze, Romaine et Provinciale, au Musée des Antiquités Nationales, XXIXe supplément de Gallia, Paris, 1975, item 178, for a similar handle with mask of Silenus to the lower end.296 grams total, 16cm including stand (6 1/4"). Property of a Dutch private collector; previously in the collection of Dr Bottger, acquired in the 1960s.