File:Roman box mount (FindID 34644).jpg

English: A copper-alloy complete mount, in very good condition. It is roughly oval-shaped in plan measuring 40mm in length and 36.5mm in width. The front face depicts a strong featured womans face, the eyes are oval-shaped with grooves delimiting them and a circular indentation in their centre. The nose is projecting and fairly large and the lips open. Above the face an almost triangular-shaped elaborate head dress is present, it projects forward over the face at about a 45 degree angle. This hair dress consists of a transverse row of longditudinal grooves with circular indentations at their ends and above this a band of overhanging hair ? also formed of longditudinal grooves. Above this band of 'hair' the pinicle of the head dress is smooth and has an irregularly shaped hole in its top, this hole has not been made recently but is unlikley to have been part of the original design of the mount. Beneath the triangular-shaped hair style and to either side of the face there is more hair, it is swept back with decorative transverse wavy grooves. Beneath this hair there is one circular perforation, or attachment hole, on both side of the face. Below these perforations there are oval-shaped lobes, which each have a circular indentation in their centre. These could be representing the ears of the woman and perhaps the indentations are ear-rings. The back face is undecorated and hollow. There is a 90 degree projection from the top edge of the head dress which runs down to the base of the hair and is 22mm in width. Inside this projection it is hollow and the rest of the back face is concave where the face is convex on the front. Ralph Jackson of the British Museum was consulted about the use of this mount as the attachment holes and its shape imply that it is not a vessel/ handle mount. He confirmed that is Roman in date and believes that it may have been a mount from a wooden casket or jewellery box - hence the small nail holes -, similar to the more ubiquitous lion head studs. In view of the fact that a hair-ornament and ?ear-rings seem to be depicted these would not be inappropriate to such a proposed use (Ralph Jackson Pers.comm 2003).