2nd-3rd century AD. A hollow-formed bronze balsamarium formed as an African bt with tiered hairstyle, tightly-coiled curls of hair extending to the neck, soft facial features with exaggerated eyes and small mouth, the tunic covering the left shoulder, lateral lugs to the crown of the head for the attachment of a drop handle. Cf. similar balsamarium in Gifty Ako-Adouvno, B.A., Study of iconography of blacks in Roman Art, Hamilton, 1999, fig.10, from Sammanud, Egypt; Mta??, S., ‘The Roman Anthropomorphic bronze vessel from Strâmba (Turceni, Gorj County"). Typological, functional and chronological aspects’ in Oltenia. Studii ?iunic?ri. Arheologie-Istorie, Muzeum Olteniei Craiova, Vol. XVII, 2010, pp.51-56, Pl.1a-1b. 290 grams, 12cm (5 3/4"). German art market before 2000. European gentleman living in UK. Property of a Surrey gentleman. The iconography of the anthropomorphic vessels displays a quite diverse repertoire. Similar themes can appear on vessels with or without pedestals. There are some categories of themes which generally occur and the most frequent image represented is that of the so called 'ethnographic' types in the literature.