Bronze Offering Box and Key in the Getty Villa, July 2008

Title: Offering Box (Arca) and Key

Artist/Maker: Unknown

Culture: Gallo-Roman

Places: Roman Empire (Place Created), Eastern Gaul (France), France (Place Found)

Date: about A.D. 130–180

Medium: Bronze

Object Number: 95.AC.29

Dimensions: 51 cm (20 1/16 in.)

Credit Line: Gift of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman

Alternate Title: Offering Box and Key (Display Title)

Department: Antiquities

Classification: Vessels

Object Type: Key

Resting on a base supported by lions' paws, this bronze arca or offering box takes the form of a miniature hexagonal structure. A roof composed of six curved sections surmounts the six joined panels forming the body. A cutting on the top of the roof served as a deposit slot, and traces on either side of this slot show that a statuette originally stood on the top of the offering box. In order to empty the box, a small door on one side opened with a key. This offering box is said to have been found in France, in the Roman province of Gaul, along with the Pair of Portrait Busts and the Statuette of Mars/Cobannus. These pieces were probably displayed together in a local shrine of the Iuventus, a Roman youth organization. The offering box may have held the monthly dues of the members.

Text from: www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/29623/unknown-maker-offering-box-arca-and-key-gallo-roman-about-ad-130-180