Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This male figure stands frontally, wearing a short tunic and a simple helmet (1). The helmet is close fitting above the brow and does not have cheek pieces, and the neck guard forms a horseshoe shape on the back of the head. His head is rather short and flat compared to that of other examples. His large ears are modeled as flat ovals, and his nose is large and prominent with a deep channel around it. His raised, almond-shaped eyes are narrow, and a long, thin line indicates lips. His neck is wide and flat. He stands with his arms down at his sides, both palms held just in front of his hips. His arms are completely separated from the body from the shoulders to the hands, which are joined to the hip with a deep groove around them to indicate separation; short incised lines indicate fingers. There is no distinction between upper arms and forearms and no indication of musculature. He wears a short tunic with no belt; the V-neck is incised on the front and back and the hem is molded below the hips. His legs and feet are joined; a deep channel is cut on the front and back to indicate the separation of the legs but not the feet. At ankle level on the sides and back, there is a molded ridge that may indicate the hem of trousers.
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. Compare L. Prados Torreira, Exvotos ibericos de bronce del Museo Arqueologico Nacional (Madrid, 1992) 199, no. 320; and R. Lantier, Bronzes votifs ibériques (Paris, 1935) no. 121, pl. 12.
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
