File:Roman Knife Handle (FindID 459450).jpg

English: A cast, copper alloy, anthropomorphic Roman knife handle depicting an erotic scene. The scene is of a man lying on a couch with a woman crouched on top, facing his feet. She has both hands on his feet and his left hand is raised and resting on her left buttock. The handle is largely solid, but there are openwork gaps in the design between the man's arm and his body, between the woman's arms and her legs, and, viewed from the front, between her arms. A small section of the handle has broken away behind the man's head; at this end there is also a circular hole for the tang of the knife. There is no slot for the blade, as would be expected if this was a folding knife, and it is therefore likely that this was the handle from a fixed-blade knife. The modelling is relatively crude and the handle is corroded with a rough, dark brown patina. It is 59mm long, 31.7mm wide and 10.7mm thick. It weighs 64.26gm.

Only a small number of erotic knife handles are known from the UK. The workmanship in all cases is 'indifferent', 'crude', or 'provincial', and it is quite possible that they were made in Britain. There are only three other examples on the PAS database: HAMP-4D3135, LIN-536F87 and SF-A23522, only one of which is a fixed blade knife. One has been found at Verulamium theatre (Frere 1984, 56-59; ref. 217, Plate III cited in HAMP-4D3135) which was a residual find excavated from 4th century dark soil. Another was found at Lambourn in Berkshire (cited in LIN-536F87). Mills 2000, 87; ref. RB259 illustrates a folding example from Baldock in Hertfordshire and goes on to say that there are four parallels known from Britain, but none from the Continent. It is also suggested that the design may be refer to some kind of public performance.

The closest parallel known (kindly provided by the finder) was sold at auction at Christie's in Sale<a href="/LotFinder/searchresults.aspx?action=search&intSaleID=8578"> 9050 </a>
<a href="/LotFinder/searchresults.aspx?action=search&intSaleID=8578">ARS AMATORIA: THE HADDAD FAMILY COLLECTION OF EROTIC ART </a>on the 17 December 1998 (<a href="http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=1404030">http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=1404030</a>). The lot notes suggest that it is probably Romano-British, but no other details of provenance are provided on the website. The Christie's example is of the same design as this example, but in much better condition with further details being visible, such as stippled ornament, the woman's bun and facial features.

All of the other known erotic knife handles found in Britain are variations on 'the theme of three'. They generally show sexual intercourse between a man and a woman with another crouched or flexed figure with his back to the woman and supporting her. This example is perhaps unusual in depicting only two people in a horizontal position and not three in an upright position.