Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This male statuette, perhaps a warrior, wears a helmet and a long cloak (1). The helmet is molded around the neck guard but is indicated only by an incised line above the brow. The facial features are disproportionate: the eyes are very large molded ovals, the nose is small, and the mouth is indicated by a tiny incision. The shape of the face is rather square, with the chin jutting out to a point. His neck and body are rather wide, and the body is entirely flat. The shoulders are right angles. The arms are held pressed against the sides, with a slight incision indicating separation only on the front; no hands are visible. The figure is presumably covered by a long featureless cloak that is rather tight around the torso. The iliac crest is visible through the fabric, but no genitals. The cloak covers the heels in the back, while the foreparts of the feet protrude in the front. The feet are separated, and the toes are not indicated. The back is featureless except for the neck guard of the helmet. There is a minor curvature to the torso, making it slightly concave, and the statuette appears to lean forward.
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. See L. Prados Torreira, Exvotos ibericos de bronce del Museo Arqueologico Nacional (Madrid, 1992) 186-87 and 227, nos. 170-81 and 1268, all of which the author groups as an “intermediate” type between the clothed and nude male statuettes. Compare also R. Lantier, Bronzes votifs ibériques (Paris, 1935) nos. 146-47, pl. 13.
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; 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
