Description:
This is a superb portrait of a young Etruscan boy, dating to circa the 2nd-1st century BC. He is depicted with his hair brushed forward, heavy eyelids and his mouth slightly open, giving the portrait lots of character.
This lot was tested for ancient authenticity by a thermoluminescence test, not once but twice! One test was performed by Labor Ralf Kotalla in Germany, the other by Oxford Authentication Ltd. Both tests proved that the head is ancient. The object will be accompanied by both test certificates.
The head was a votive offering. Such heads can be seen in major museums like the British Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris. A large collection is in the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco (part of the Vatican Museums) as well as in the Villa Giulia Museum, both in Rome.
Votive heads are not often seen on the market; it is very rare to see such an expressive one!
Background information:
The Etruscans were known to be pious people; even the Romans occasionally consulted Etruscan priests about rituals and divination. It was also an Etruscan priest and haruspex, called Titus Vestricius Spurinna, who warned Julius Caesar to beware the Ides of March, a month before he was assassinated.
Since they were so pious it is not surprising that many religious objects were made. Especially votive offerings in terracotta have come from sanctuaries in enormous numbers, and more than 200 important deposits of votive offerings are known to date (Turfa 2006, p. 90). Most of these offerings date to the fourth and third century B.C. They illustrate how many gifts were brought to the temple on a daily basis, as well as the variety of offerings. There were models of cult images, gods and worshippers but also of food and sacrificed animals; the latter could replace real live animals, too costly to offer. This can be compared with the same practice in Roman religion: "The two oxen are mine and they helped to grow the corn. Be kind, Demeter, and receive them, though they be of dough and not from the herd. Grant that my real oxen may live …" (Macedonius 6.40 as quoted by Turfa 2006, p. 91).
But also models were found of the entrails of a sacrificial animal (as used during divination), sometimes inscribed with the names of the relevant gods (see illustration in De Grummond 2006, p. 11, figure II.2). Most importantly many reproductions were given of parts of the human body, such as limbs and organs; among these body parts were the heads and half heads.
One example out of many is the Ara della Regina find, containing more than a thousand votive offerings from the fourth tot the first century B.C., most of which with a healing character (statues and heads of men, women, boys, swaddled babies, halfheads, busts, body parts etc.) (Turfa 2006, p. 96; Comella 1982).
Dedicating a model of the ailing part of a body in order to receive healing has been called highly distinctive of their religion from the 4th-1st centuries BC with earlier evidence from the 6th century (Turfa 2005, p. 48).
Literature:
Jean MacIntosh Turfa, "Votive Offerings in Etruscan Religion" in: Nancy Thomson de Grummond - Erika Simon (eds.), The Religion of the Etruscans (Sixth Langford Conference Proceedings) (Austin, University of Texas Press, 2006), p. 90-115;
Jean MacIntosh Turfa, Catalogue of the Etruscan Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2005);
Nancy Thomson de Grummond - Erika Simon (eds.), The Religion of the Etruscans (Austin, University of Texas Press, 2006);
G. von Kaschnitz-Weinberg, "Ritratti fittili etruschi e romani dal secolo III al I, Av.Cr. " in Rendiconti della Pontificia Academia Romana di Archeologia, III, 1924-25, pp. 337-38;
T. Dohrn, in W. Helbig, Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertümer in Rom (Die Päpstlichen Sammlungen im Vatikan und Lateran, I, Tübingen, 1963), p. 587;
M.F. Kilmer, The Shoulder Bust in Sicily and South and Central Italy: A Catalog and Materials for Dating (Göteborg, 1977), pp.226-27;
G. Bartolini, "Alcune terrecotte votive dalle collezioni medicee ora nel Museo Archeologico di Firenze", Studi Etruschi 38, 1970, 257-270;
G. Bartolini, "Pyrgi. Le terrecotte votive", Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità (ser. 8) 24, 1970, suppl. 2, vol. 2, 552-578;
Maria Bonghi Jovino, Capua preromana. Terrecotte votive I-II. (Catalogo del Museo Provinciale Campano) (Firenze, 1965-1971);
A. Comella, "Il deposito votivo presso l’Ara della Regina", Archaeologica 22 (Roma, 1982);
Martin Söderlind, Late Etruscan Votive Heads from Tessennano. Production, Distribution, Sociohistorical Context (Studia Archaeologica, 118) (Rome, 2002).
Dating:
Circa second - first century B.C.
Size:
Height 19 cm excluding stand.
Provenance:
Dutch private collection, acquired at Bonhams London, 2004; before German private collection.
Condition:
Some surface wear, encrustation and damage as shown; a large chip missing from the neck, not detracting when the head is displayed; mounted.
Price:
€ 5,500
Stock number:
C0800