A beautiful cast copper alloy end looped cosmetic mortar, dating from the Late Iron Age to the Early Roman period – circa, 1st to 2nd Centuries AD. Cosmetic mortars can be otherwise known as woad or cosmetic grinders. They come as part of a set of two artefacts, the mortar and the pestle. It is believed that they were used during the Celtic period in Britain for the preparation and application of dye to the skin. A blue dye could be obtained from a biennial herb called ‘Isatis Tinctoria’ or woad, when the leaves are crushed. Woad has been cultivated in Europe since ancient times and has a long association with East Anglia, notably with Boudicca and the Iceni tribe who reputedly used woad to decorate their bodies before battle. Nothern tribes also gained notoriety by painting their bodies with woad – believing it offered their naked bodies a kind of magical armour - the Romans called these Ancient Britons as 'Picts' meaning painted – the source of the modern word picture.

The mortar has a plain, relatively shallowed bowed profile, with the suspension loop situated at one end. The loop folds back on itself, and becomes attached to the base of the mortar. The end of the loop is slightly upturned, imitating a duck's bill. The opposing end of the mortar exhibits a rounded knop terminal – lending a phallic quality to the design. The mortar itself has a shallow U-shaped cross section – reminiscent of a boat. In plan, it is broadly elliptical in shape. The interior (grinding surface) is smooth, and is pale in colour. This change in coloration could be due to a chemical reaction from the substances ground. The mortar is dark green in colour, with an even patina across the surface. A beautiful example of British Celtic Art – these items are only found in the UK and this example was reputedly found close to St Albans in the 1980’s - complete with an old collection tag.

Dimensions: 74 mm. X 16 mm.

References: Jackson, R. 1985 Cosmetic sets from Late Iron and Roman Britain. Britannia XVI: Ralph Jackson published a corpus of known examples in 1985, of which two are similar to this example. No. 20 from Thistleton, Leicestershire (Jackson, 1985, p179) and no. 30 from Colchester, Essex (Jackson, 1985, p.181).

A similar example can be found on the PAS database: Unique ID: WAW-0B6B74