File:Bacchus tripod mount drawing (FindID 154463).jpg

English: Cast copper alloy tripod mount in the form of the bust of Bacchus emerging from a calyx. The mount has a hollow rectangular base in the form of a calyx, which has three slight bands to it, each one being slightly narrower than the next. The lowest band has a semi-circular notch at the front, and a small notch at the back. These notches appear to be the result of wear or damage rather than being functional items. The central band is decorated in the front with what appears to be two crude letters, perhaps reading DN. The bust is shown wearing a tunic that covers one shoulder only. The right hand shoulder is bear. The tunic has a rope-like border across the chest, and a worn decoration on the left hand breast. The decoration consists of four rosettes with hollow centre, and perhaps some other leaf or grapes between. The bust meets the collar below across the lower chest, and the tunic has three moulded and slightly upward curving waves to it. The face of the bust depicts a young male with very worn features. The eyes are almost non-visible anymore, and the nose and chin are worn flat. These wear facets appear to be ancient rather than modern. The hair mid-length and curly, covering most of the forehead and running down as far as the line of the chin. The curls of the hair are shown by moulded swirls, however the details are again very worn. There may be fruit in the hair such as grapes, located mainly in the area around the ears. This fruit combined with the youthful-male depiction would suggest that this is representative of Bacchus. Only the back of the head is decorated on the reverse, showing the continuation of the curly hair. On the back of the bust, just below the line of the shoulder-blades in the centre is an integral copper alloy shank. This shank is circular in cross-section and stems in a straight line out the back, and then curves upwards and away to its rounded terminal. There is a short recessed vertical slot above the shank that may be the result of damage rather than a functional item. There are two horizontal grooves underneath each armpit. The object is the mount that would have been located on the top of a tripod arm. Each of the three arms of the tripod would have had a matching mount, all of which would have faced outwards. The shanks would therefore have faced inwards and would have in turn supported a copper alloy bowl by the means of rings attached to its rim. There are only a few examples from Britain. There are also a few published examples from the continent coming from Belgium and Germany all with figures emerging from a calyx and with full heads of curly hair like this one. The object has an odd patina, being slightly dull green with reddish patches suggesting that it has been cleaned or abraded.