Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The standing warrior holds a dagger away from his body. He is nude and bald. The facial features are modeled stylistically: the eyes are small raised ellipses, the nose is triangular, and the mouth is a long gouge. The face is rather flat in profile; the chin is narrow and curved. An elliptical depression on each side of his head may indicate ears. The neck is disproportionately thick and long, leading to a rectangular torso. The figure holds his arms out at chest height. His left arm is missing just below the shoulder; it may have carried a shield (1). There is no indication of musculature on the right arm. The surviving thumb is separate from the rest of the fingers, which are indicated by incision. He holds a dagger pointed downward in his hand. The torso is featureless except for two raised circular nipples and a deep, incised band around the waist that may indicate a belt. The genitals are modeled very simply. The legs are separate down from a point above the knees. They also show no musculature, bending slightly at the knees and tapering at the ankles. The feet are small and featureless. The back of the figure is featureless except for the belt and a groove from the buttocks to the knees to indicate separation of the legs.
Thousands of small, anthropomorphic copper alloy statuettes and anatomical votives have been recovered from remote sanctuary sites in south-central Spain, particularly Collado de los Jardines and Castellar de Santisteban, but it is not certain to which god or gods they were dedicated (2). Many of the statuettes depict individuals, some of whom are represented in poses of prayer or offering (3). Some are very abstract and schematically rendered, while others wear identifiable contemporary clothing (4). In spite of the similarity of the votives, there is nothing to indicate that the intention behind each offering was the same. This example is most likely from the cave sanctuary of Collado de los Jardines near Santa Elena, Jaén. It was given to Harvard in 1933 by the Republic of Spain in exchange for the cover of the eleventh-century sarcophagus of Alfonso Ansúrez from Sahagún, León, which was then in the collection of the Fogg Art Museum (5).
NOTES:
1. Better preserved warrior statuettes of this type often carry a small, round shield on their left arms; compare L. Prados Torreira, Exvotos ibericos de bronce del Museo Arqueologico Nacional (Madrid, 1992) 184-85, nos. 144-58. See also ibid., 185, no. 160, for a statuette stylistically similar to 1933.116 with an intact hand and no shield; R. Lantier, Bronzes votifs ibériques (Paris, 1935) no. 14, pl. 2, which is missing its right arm but has its left upraised, as this one may have been; and 1978.509, which, although of a different type, also carries a shield and weapon.
2. See F. Álvarez-Ossorio, Bronces ibéricos o hispánicos del Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid, 1935) 20-27; id., Catálogo de los exvotos de bronce ibéricos (Madrid, 1941); L. Prados Torreira, “Los exvotos anatomicos del santuario iberico de Collado de los Jardines (Sta. Elena, Jaén),” Trabajos de prehistoria 48 (1991): 313-32; ead. 1992 (supra 1); ead., “Los santuarios ibéricos: Apuntes para el desarrollo de una arqueología del culto,” Trabajos de prehistoria 51.1 (1994): 127-40; and G. Nicolini et al., El santuario ibérico de Castellar, Jaén: Intervenciones arqueológicas 1966-1991 (Seville, 2004) 160-64.
3. For discussions of the statuettes’ poses and gestures, see G. Nicolini, “Gestes et attitudes cultuels des figurines de bronze ibériques,” Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez 4 (1968): 27-50; and C. Rueda Galán, “La mujer sacralizada: La presencia de las mujeres en los santuarios (lectura desde los exvotos de bronce iberos),” Complutum 18 (2007): 227-35.
4. See, for example, 1933.134.
5. See “Collections and Critiques,” The Harvard Crimson, Dec. 12, 1935; and Á. Franco, “Arte medieval leonés fuera de España,” in La dispersión de objetos de arte fuera de España en los siglos XIX y XX, eds. F. Pérez Mulet and I. Socias Batet (Barcelona, 2011) 93-132, esp. 113-16.
Lisa M. Anderson
