A Romano-Gaulish Statuette from Cowden, Kent

RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES IN KENT A ROMANO-GAULISH STATUETTE FROM COWDEN, KENT THlll incomplete clay statuette here illustrated was found in the garden of Ludwalls Farm, Cowden, Kent. It is the upper part of a figure of a nude boy, now broken off at the waist, its present height being 5 cm. The fracture is unusually clean and sharp considering the thickness of the material, which may suggest that in its complete state it was not a free-standing figure, but a half-length bust mounted on a small pedestal. The head is slightly inclined to the left, and the hair is arranged in curls hanging close to the back of the head, and combed forward on the forehead. A crested bird with one wing upraised, presumably a cockerel, is held by the left hand close against the boy's chest, and he extends his right forefinger to touch the tip of the bird's beak which is open. The statuette is in fine white pipe-clay, and was produced in a two-piece mould, the front and rear halves being subsequently luted together and the medial joint then roughly trimmed with a knife or spatula. Although an exact parallel has not been found, it is clear that the facial expression with its simpering smile, the treatment of the eyes, nose and hair, are all characteristic of the work of the clay statuette modellers who worked in the Allier district in the latter half of the second century A.D. In fact, there are clay busts from that industry which portray children holding various animals in the same general pose. For example, there are two, portraying a young girl holding a rabbit, which were found at Arpajon (Canta!) and Clermont (Puy-deD0me) respectively, and also one of a boy holding a small dog from Saint Pourcain-sur-Besbre (Allier).1 Analogous types from elsewhere in Britain are also recorded. All are now incomplete and made of white clay. One, from Bootle-inCumberland, is the torso of a male personage, nude but for an apron tied behind the back. He has both hands raised close to the chest where they clasp what seem to be ears of corn and fruits of some kind.2 The second example was found by chance on the foreshore at Leigh-on-Sea (Essex).S Only the front half has survived and its height is now 6 · 8 cm. Both hands are raised to the chest where they clasp 1 St. Germain-en-Laye Museum Nos. 6866, 28117 and 28054, respectively. 􀁿 Transactions of the Oumberl,a,nd and Westmoruvnd Antiquarian and Archreological Society (new aeries), xxx, 119. Present whereabouts unknown. 3 Chehnsford Museum Nos. A 1304/1 and A 1304/2, two pieces which join. 203 RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES fruits of some kind and in the left hand is an object resembling a key. 4 The third example was found in 1849 in the Roman baths at Chelmsford (Essex).5 It is the torso of a nude male figure now lacking the head and broken off at the knees. Like the others just described, the hands are in a similar position and clasp fruits against the chest; the height is now 7·6cm. In discussing the identity of the personage represented by the Bootle statuette, the late Professor Collingwood remarked that the combination of the apron and fruits suggested that it was Priapus, but he thought that this was unlikely as the figure is not ithyphallic. Silvanus is frequently represented in a similar guise holding fruits, but Collingwood preferred to think that a minor Celtic deity of strictly local origin may have been intended.6 In our view, however, none of these identifications seems entirely satisfactory. In seeking parallels one is reminded of the various stone votive statuettes which have been recovered from several temple-sites in Gaul, as for example those found in the shrine of the Xulsigiae adjacent to the temple of Ma,rs-Lenus at Trier. 7 The inscriptions borne by these reveal that they were proffered to Mars-Iovantucarus (Lover of Children) by parents concerned for the health and welfare of their young offspring. It is noteworthy that some of these youthful figures hold a bird in precisely the same pose as that of the Cowden figure. There are, of course, no grounds for thinking that this indicates the site of a temple in the vicinity of its find-spot, but its very close similarity to the stone ex votos could mean that it had a similar function. It seems therefore, that the Cowden figure was produced in the Allier workshops to meet the demand for cheap substitutes for the more expensive statuettes in stone and metal which were destined as gifts to the gods. li this is true, then it seems more reasonable to regard these clay statuettes of children who bear fruits, animals or birds, not as divine beings, either classical or local Celtic, but as stereotyped subjects symbolic of the children who were expected to be the recipients of the favours of the gods to whom the statuettes were presented. The author is indebted to Mr. David Kelly, of Maidstone Museum, 4 V.C.H., Eeaex, iii (1963), 164, but not illustrated. ' Tram. of the Eeew Arch. Soc., i (old series). Now in the Chelmsford Museum. 0 Loo. cit. 7 E. Gose, Der Tempelbezirlc deB Lenua-Mars in Trier, Berlin, 1955, Te.f 28, Abb. 49; there are a.lso several analogous stone statuettes which have been found with mo.ny other ex votos in the temple of Sequana at the sources of the Seine. Part of what seems to be a similar statuette of whito clay is now in the ProvinciOAl OudheidkundigMuaeum at Ut,reoht (Inv. No. G 15 = 5616)foundo.t s'Heerenberg. Nothing elae is lmown, and the site is not o. Roman one. All that has survived of the figure is the lower po.rt of o. nude male from the waist down to the ankles. '.rbe proportions and size are close to the British examples. The height is now c. 8•9 cm. 204, PLATE I Romano-Gaulish Stt1tuottc from Cowden. [face p. 204 RESEARCHES .AND DISCOVERIES for drawing his attention to this interesting statuette and for arranging for him to examine and photograph it. The statuette is now in the possession of Mr. E. C. Webber, formerly of Ludwalls Farm. FRANK JENKINS 205