A gilded Roman leg anchors Edinburgh’s new exhibition
A gilded bronze leg found in a Scottish bog in 1820 takes centre stage in the National Museum of Scotland’s new Edinburgh exhibition. Archaeologists suggest it belonged to an equestrian statue of Antoninus Pius near Hawick. The exhibition, opening on Saturday, also brings together objects from Inveresk, including two stone altars shown for the first time and a newly reconstructed decorated bowl.
Arts··Midday
The Mislington leg goes on display
A gilded bronze leg is a central object in the National Museum of Scotland’s new Roman exhibition in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital. The fragment is known as the Mislington leg.[1], [2]
Roman Scotland: Life on the Edge of Empire is due to open on Saturday. The exhibition examines Roman influence on Scotland’s art and society. The leg was discovered in a rural bog in 1820. It later spent about 100 years in the charter room at Dalkeith House, a residence of the Duke of Buccleuch.[1]
Archaeologists reconsider where the statue stood
Earlier antiquarians thought the fragment had been taken as loot from farther south, possibly York. Archaeologists now propose an origin in the Scottish Borders, the region near Scotland’s border with England. They suggest that the leg came from an equestrian statue of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius erected near Hawick. The identification and original setting remain archaeological interpretations.[1]
Principal curator Fraser Hunter also offers a different account of the limb’s removal. He argues that it was carefully detached and then deposited, rather than hacked violently from the statue. This proposed treatment accompanies the reassessment of the statue’s location; the established discovery history begins with the find in the bog.[1]
Inveresk objects reveal local craftsmanship
The exhibition presents a new reconstruction of a decorated earthenware bowl from Inveresk, east of Edinburgh. Assistant curator Bethany Simpson says its combination of dolphins, stags and a stylised hunting dog is distinctive to that site. A complete horse skeleton, carefully buried at the settlement, is included too. Inveresk also had a small amphitheatre.[1]
Two locally carved stone altars excavated from Inveresk’s temple of Mithras are being displayed for the first time. One hollow altar has openings around the deity’s head and through its eyes and mouth. A lamp placed inside could cast light through these holes. Exhibition lighting also demonstrates how the altars looked when painted.[1]
