LOT 0075

Etruscan Amber Head Pendant

ETRURIA, 5TH CENTURY B.C.

2 in. (3 1/4 in.) (23 grams, 50 mm (242 grams total, 81 mm including stand)).

Carved from translucent red-brown amber as a profile head with stylised Archaic features, large almond eye beneath a defined brow ridge, a softly smiling mouth, and carefully delineated hair arranged in striated bands sweeping back from the face; a drilled perforation at the crown indicates its original function as a suspended ornament; accompanied by a display stand.

Sotheby's, London, 14-15 December 1981, no.206.
American private collection; acquired at the above sale.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13329-257968.

See for related profile head pendants in amber, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, inv. nos. 83.AO.202.1 and 77.AO.81.30, both published in Causey, F. (ed.), Ancient Carved Ambers in the J. Paul Getty Museum (2012/2019); see also Christie’s, London, Antiquities, 14 April 2011, lot 129, for a stylistically comparable example.

Amber was a prestigious imported material in Etruria, highly prized for its rarity, colour, and perceived apotropaic power. From the late 6th century B.C. onwards, figured amber pendants appear in elite tombs, particularly those of women, reflecting both personal identity and a protective role within funerary belief systems. The prominent, wide-open eye here may have served as a talismanic motif, thought to ward off malign forces and ensure the wearer’s vigilance and well-being in life and beyond the grave. This piece reflects the distinctive aesthetic of Etruscan amber carving, in which Mediterranean influences are reinterpreted with a locally expressive sculptural style.