Antonius himself. AD 40/41.

Dispatched by the Romans to bring back intelligence about Ol’ Blighty before an attempted invasion, things went slightly wrong when his lack of sailing skills came to the fore (can only assume he lied in the job interview). He ended up being swept around the coast and ‘invading’ Hunstanton. Divvy. 

Respect to him for coming clean immediately about why he was really there, though. I think he immediately trusted my mates and I when we dragged him out of the ocean, brought him back to life with a kind of strong, repetitive yet slightly panicked hug (early CPR) and a mug of wine. 

Based the bust on the CPR teaching aid Resuscitation Annie, this piece was designed to reflect the moment he opened his eyes after spitting out the water in his lungs (Baywatch style). 

Globules of frozen sea foam (which I always remember as him collecting the crests of waves) were stuck to his hair and I remember he had patches of hair and scalp missing where he must have introduced himself to some rocks. 

To create this ‘look’ I underglazed his hair as it would have been, pre-drowning, and then scratched hair and scalp off with a sharp blade. When I pulled him out of the water, the wounds were clean and the blood came gushing later. I then glazed and fired the piece so the torso had a slight matte, lifeless look to it where it was almost as if the sunburn on his body had evaporated the ocean that clung to him. 

I also massively over glazed the hair so that the excess glaze would form the glassy globs of sea foam on Antoni’s head.

All in all, and I know it sounds weird as Antoni was a part of a psychotic episode that took place thousands of years ago but it’s really nice to have him back!