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Back to previous pageLOT 0131
Sold for (Inc. bp): £910
2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.
4 3/4 in. (362 grams, 12.1 cm).
Hollow-formed right hand from a statuette, with fingers splayed and flat palm, good anatomical detailing.
PROVENANCE:
Private collection 1990s.
Ex London, UK, gallery.
LITERATURE:
Cf. Ersöz, S.B., ‘The hand gesture and symbols of Sabazios’ in Opuscula, Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome, 11, 2018, figs.1, 4, 7, 11, 12.
FOOTNOTES:
The votive character of the hand could link it to the God Sabazios, often associated with a number of archaeological finds depicting a bronze, right hand in the benedictio latina gesture. The hand appears to have had ritual significance and may have been affixed to a sceptre (as the one carried by Sabazios on a slab, one from Philippopolis, nowadays Plovdiv in Bulgaria). The association with Sabazios is sometimes suggested in similar hands, by the presence of a snake embossed around the circumference of the hand, because the iconic image of the god or hero on horseback battling the chthonic serpent, appears on Celtic-Roman votive columns, and with the coming of Christianity it was easily adapted to the representations of Saint George fighting the Dragon.
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