Object type
ex-voto
Culture/period
Protohistory and Iberian world
Materials
bronze
Technique
casting
Mint
Production date
-400 / -300
Current location
Reserva provisional
Archaeological site
Cueva de la Lobera - Los Altos del Sotillo
Township
Castellar de Santisteban (Europa, Espanya, Andalusia, Jaen)
Dimensions
66 mm
Description
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Iberian votive offering depicting a lady in an attitude of offering. The lady wears a long robe, tight to the body, which reaches down to her ankles, and is sleeveless, with a band of fabric that crosses in front of her chest. She has some facial features that are well-profiled, highlighting the eyes. The head is covered by a conical headdress that falls behind her shoulders like a cape or cloak. She is wearing a torque or necklace and two large wheel-like coils, characteristic elements also found in the sculpture of the Lady of Elche and other votive females. Her arms are deployed forward with open hands, disproportionately large. She is barefooted with marked toes.
Traditionally it has been considered that these representations symbolize the person making the offering to the deity, in this case a woman of high position, denoted by the element of conical head, torque and wheel-like coils. In the shrine of Collado de los Jardines (Jaén), where this votive offering comes from, female figures with very similar characteristics have been found.
The votive offerings are a sign of genuine Iberian religiosity, although the phenomenon is intrinsic to many religions. These bronze figures come from various shrines and cave-sanctuaries in the southeast of the peninsula, where they were placed between the fifth and first centuries BC. Shrines venerated deities linked to the land, fertility, ritual transition to maturity, etc. The votive established a direct relationship between man and the gods, because in exchange for a gift or offering to a god or goddess, a prayer was answered. The votive offerings provide information about the society that created them: their clothing and weapons and forms of ostentation and representation of individuals. Because of both their uniqueness and their small size and the fact that they were made of metal, they were traded as antiques from the mid-nineteenth century, and many museums acquired them. The MAC has more than 300 pieces.
ARANEGUI GASCÓ, C., MOHEN, JEAN P. i ROUILLARD, P. 1998, Els ibers, prínceps d'occident. Catàleg de l'exposició. Fundació la Caixa, Barcelona. Núm. 34A del catàleg.
DD.AA. 2005, Celtíberos: tras la estela de Numancia. Catàleg de l'exposició Junta de Castilla y León, Sòria. Núm. 6 del catàleg.
TARRADELL, M. 1977, Imagen del arte ibérico, Ediciones Polígrafa, Barcelona. Pàg. 49, Fig. 47.
© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Barcelona
Omeka ID
2519