Foot as Canting Pun

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Liv Yarrow

P. Furius Crassipes (84 BCE; RRC 356/1) (earlier post as well)

Cf. these glass pastes from the British Museum:

1814,0704.2306

Glass paste engraved with a hand fastening a sandal on a right foot, with a butterfly above (BM 1814,0704.2306). Pen and ink with brown wash on a sheet of paper, which is stuck down onto a second sheet watermarked '1794 J WHATMAN' together with 2010,5006.675- 679; the assemblage framed in a red ink border.

I don’t think this above is likes to be for a ‘Crassipus’ The symbolism seems to rest less in the foot than in the hand and butterfly that work together to bind the laces. The butterfly represents the soul (psyche, anima). Perhaps the message is a sort of hard work, and innate ability together produce results….

1814,0704.2303

Oval black glass paste intaglio: foot.

This is a top view of foot it could be for a Crassipes, but equally it would be joking with the idea of leaving a footprint/leaving one’s mark and the function of a seal ring. Although for that we might expect a bottom view not a top view.