Details

LOT 741

Anglo-Saxon Goddess Figurine

(Copper-alloy, 33 grams, 56 mm.).

Circa 5th-7th century AD. A cast bronze figurine of a female with bulbous head and plaited hair to the rear, D-shaped face with annular eyes and flat nose, the left hand supporting the right breast, the right hand on the stomach; the legs and feet undersized, the pudendum oversized.

Provenance

From an old English collection, found in the River Deben near Eyke, 1976.

Literature

Cf. figurine from Breach Down, Kent in Hammond, B. British Artefacts vol.1 - Early Anglo-Saxon.

Footnotes

The figurine probably represents the fertility goddess Frige, whose name is commemorated in 'Friday'.

CONDITION