Lion-headed mount. Cast in high relief, proud from a flat rim, edged with radial notches/cuts.

The mouth shown open with canine teeth bared. The almond-shaped eyes, the lower nose and limits of the mane are indicated by shallow lines, the ears by indents. The mane is infilled with finer, crisscrossed lines. In the animal’s cheeks are circular holes.

This lion-headed mount is similar in its crude style to the decorative studs known primarily from eastern England and associated with wooden boxes or caskets dating to the later 1st and 2nd centuries.

There is an association between lion-headed studs and caskets used for the burial of cremations, although they are also likely to have been widely used in domestic contexts.