I’d wager you haven’t seen this wild-man in nature…it’s the disembodied half-life-sized (14.5 cm) head of a centaur, identifiable by his profusion of curls and two rows of visible teeth, here inlaid in silver (exposed teeth were markers of heroes, hybrid beasts, and the odd god – centaurs in particular had a penchant for biting).
This fellow has been cast admirably in a late Hellenistic style and his somewhat dopey expression might be in part to being squashed at some point and the way in which his marvelous eyes have weathered (and the bright patina of his nose is reminiscent of a drunkard, no?). By the 2nd-3rd century A.D., the head was separated from its horsey body and filled with molten lead for reuse as a steelyard weight. Neat eh?
Presumably this chopping and filling happened in the Gallo-Roman town, (Schwarzenacker in the German Saarland) where it was excavated, pressed into service before that community fell to the Alemannic invasion like a lead balloon.
