TWO LION'S HEADS Decorative sarcophagus handle plates in copper alloy (bronze?). Openwork gules. Roman Empire, 1st or 2nd century AD. Diameter: 20.5 cm (Small visible accidents and missing pieces, base) Provenance Mes d'Authier de Sisgaw & Charriaud sale, Hôtel du Prado, 4 March 1972 Marseille. Lot n° 23. Collection C. Marseille Note: These sarcophagus handles were widespread in the Roman Empire, particularly in the 2nd century; they are clearly a revival of a Syrian motif taken up again in Roman workshops at a time when the matrimonial policy of the Severan dynasty established new links with the East. A similar model is preserved in the Archaeological Museum of the Citadel of Bosra [inv. no. 97].