Details

LOT 0333

Scandinavian Pre-Viking Gold Votive Plaque of Guldgubbe with Goddess Facing

CIRCA 6TH CENTURY A.D.

1 in. (1.45 grams, 26 mm).

Sheet-gold plaque with folded edges, repoussé image of a facing figure in ankle-length robe, hands resting on the hips.

Provenance

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12755-234703.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Literature

Cf. Franceschi, G., Jorn, A., Magnus, B., Men, Gods and Masks in Nordic Iron Age Art, Koln, 2005, pls.1,33-38 and Adamsen, C. et al., Sorte Muld, Rønne, 2008, p.47, for similar votive plaques.

Footnotes

Guldgubbe was originally a Swedish word that has entered in the Scandinavian language and denote tiny human or divine figures either cut from sheet gold or formed over a patrix. Figures of women are extremely rare in metal art before the 7th century A.D. It is only with Guldgubbe that women make their appearance. They are usually viewed both in profile or (like here) frontally.