sculpture
- Museum number
- 2013,8017.120
- Description
-
Carved river pebble sculpture in the form of a head.
- Production date
- 1stC-20thC (?)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 21.50 millimetres (approx.)
-
Width: 14 millimetres (approx.)
-
Depth: 14 millimetres (approx.)
- Curator's comments
- The Rodney Legg bequest to the British Museum (2013,8017.1-186) comprises 186 carved stone heads, mostly from Britain, assiduously collected between about 1970 and 2011 by the late Rodney Legg and bequeathed to the British Museum via his executors.
The heads are a very mixed group, carved from a variety of regional stones and varying from below to actual life size. A few may be Romano-British but most are likely to be medieval or later. Many are of a type often characterised as 'Celtic-style' or simply 'Celtic'. They comprise a useful reference collection of a distinctive, if enigmatic, type of naive stone sculpture. However, as simple stone carvings of the human head most defy any attempt at stylistic discussion, and because few of them have a precise provenance and none a recorded secure archaeological context they are essentially un-datable.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2013
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 2013,8017.120
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: RL126 (Collectors reference number)