Details

LOT 0082

Etruscan Bronze Statuette with Offering

4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.

5 1/4 in. (295 grams total, 13.3 cm including stand).

Modelled in the round as a figure of a lar standing with the left hand raised with palm facing forwards, right arm extending forwards and holding a patera in the hand; wearing a close-fitting short-sleeved tunic with a folded and draped mantle above; the face with aquiline nose, lentoid eyes and a small pursed mouth and with a loose-fitting cap retaining the hair; mounted on a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Literature

Cf. Boucher, S., Recherches sur les Bronzes Figurés de Gaule Pré-Romaine et Romaine, Rome, 1976, item 22, for a more naturalistic treatment of a similar subject; also an item in the British Museum under accession no.1824,0437.1; Thomson de Grummond, N., & Simon, E., The Religion of the Etruscans, Austin, 2006, fig.p.94, for similar although of later age.

Footnotes

The gesture is typical for making sacrifice. The curved hem of the garment, which originally could be seen both behind and in front of the left leg, shows that this is a tebenna, a typical Etruscan male dress, distinguished by its semi-circular shape from the rectangular Greek himation.