Roman Shields, Ancilia and Military Coins with Trajan's Column Relief, 1722

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, a single page plate from the fourth volume of Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained, printed in London by J. Tonson and J. Watts in 1722. A large relief at top shows soldiers in segmented armor with long curved shields standing in water below a rocky bank, standard bearers in animal skin headdresses carrying standards hung with discs, a man heaving a load up the bank, trees at left and a walled building with windows above. Beside it are shields of several shapes, an oval, a hexagonal shield worked with a mask and scrolls, two crescent shields and a boss. Below, a large round dish shows figures gathered under arches and a pediment, cloaked bearded men, helmeted soldiers with shields and an axe, and a seated nude man, with pieces of armor and weapons on the ground. Around it are coins and gems with figure of eight shields, standards, wreaths and portrait busts.

The relief is captioned "Trajane Pillar", that is Trajan's Column in Rome. The other captions read "Spon", "Angeloni", "Maffei", "Mr Charlet", "Baudelot" and "Montfaucon". The coins are lettered IMPERATOR II and ANCILIA with S C (twice), SPQR CL.V, SERVATOS, MODERATIONI, CLEMENTIAE and SIGNIS RECEPTIS. The figure numbers run from 1 to 19. The corners read "Page 30", "Vol IV." and "Plate 8".

Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained is the English translation by David Humphreys of L'Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures, published in Paris in 1719 by Bernard de Montfaucon (1655 to 1741), a French Benedictine monk and scholar. Its fourth volume is given to war. Each figure is copied from a monument, coin, gem or earlier antiquarian book, with its source engraved beside it.

The relief and the ring of coins and shields make a well balanced composition for framing.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.