Sculpture, carved relief

Three Matres are seated side by side upon a bench or couch. They are identically clad in long tunics reaching to their feet and mantles over this. The decorative patterning of the folds is very striking indeed, but is not naturalistic. It resembles well representations of drapery in v-shapes on Venus pipe clay figurines. Each of the mothers has a wicker basket upon her lap, containing fruit: the one on the right hand side holds a basket of 6 loaves or apples, while the others carry more examples of a smaller object. The basket of the goddess on the left is almost double the height of the other two. Apart from these slight variations, the positioning and styling of each is very similar.

The left side of the block has a rectangular recess surrounded on the right and across the top by a prominent border, indicative of the bench upon which the three are seated. Damage to the right hand side obliterates the area where this couch may have been shown, though a small patch of the original surface carving remains, showing that drapery continues on this side at the front.

This is of a higher grade of monument, and indeed larger, than the mother goddess reliefs from Cirencester or Lincoln, but are clearly of the same tradition: the rigid poses especially are comparable (see J.Toynbee (1964), Art in Britain Under the Romans, p.172, pl. XLIIIa). Many more mother goddess groups are known from Gaul and Germany, and the London example aspires to fit into this spectrum, particularly resembling examples from Cologne (see Esperandieu VIII 6525). Individual goddesses, identified as matres from Heddernheim and Weisbaden are more elegant, while the group of three goddesses from Le Tricastin show how naturalistically these can be depicted (Esperandieu Germanie 114 (Heddernheim), 44 (Weisbaden); Esperandieu I 327 (Le Tricastin)). As with other sculptures from London, artistic elements are here drawn both from British traditions, such as those seen in the Cotswolds, and from Continental styles.