CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

This exquisite statuette depicts the god nude, with muscular build, holding the money purse in his right hand and a now-missing attribute in his left, most likely the caduceus, which would have been cast separately like the top of his head, possibly the winged petasos, which is also missing.

According to Charles Delaporte's notes, the bronze was found after 1870 during an excavation near the town of Bavay, close to the border with Belgium. During the Roman period, Bavay, then known with the Latin name of Bagacum, was a fortified settlement of the Nervians, described by Julius Caesar as a tribe of fearsome warriors in his account of the Gallic War. The Roman town was founded in 20 B.C. by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, one of Augustus' most trusted generals, as part of the Gallia Belgica province. Due to its strategic position as a central node within the network of roads built by the Empire, Bagacum expanded rapidly, becoming one of the most important political and economical centres of the region, with imposing monuments such as a large forum, thermal baths and several temples.

Mercury, associated with the Greek god Hermes, was the god of travellers, doctors, merchants and commerce as well as acting as the messenger for the gods and the guide of souls to the underworld. The worship of Mercury began in the Roman republic of about 4th Century B.C., later becoming particularly popular in Gaul - blending with the native Celtic gods as the Romans conquered northern Europe. Julius Caesar wrote in Bellum Gallicum (Book VI): "The god whom they (the Gauls) honour most is Mercury. He has a large number of statues; they regard him as the inventor of all the arts, as the guide of travellers, and as presiding over all kinds of gains and commerce".

The huge popularity of Mercury with Gauls is also well-attested in the archaeological record. The silver hoard found in 1830 near the village of Berthouville and now part of the collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, included two large scale silver votive statuettes representing the god, plus several representations on richly-decorated silver offering bowls, cf. A.M. Nielsen and A. Wirenfeldt Minor, High on Luxury, Bibliothèque nationale de France and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 2018. In particular it is interesting to notice that the Berthouville silver Mercury (inv.56.1) presents the same construction as our example, with open hollow head for the insertion of a now-missing, separately-cast top, likely the god's distinctive winged cap or petasos.

Also see another fine example of Mercury in bronze, with accentuated musculature and holding the purse and caduceus, dredged from the Saône, at the Île Barbe Point, on the Rhône above Lyon and now in the collection of the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale et Domaine National de Saint-Germain-en-Laye (inv. no. 77507).