Caucasian Bronze Idol

Culture: Caucasian

Period: 8th-6th century B.C.

Material: Bronze

Dimensions: 6.6 cm high

Price: 3 600 Euro

Ref: 5289

Provenance: Collection Dr. Wassilijew, 1980s. Since at least September 2003 in the Antikenkabinett Gackstätter with the inventory number 02810. Last in a German collection. With a copy of the certificate by the Antikenkabinett Gackstätter.

Condition: Intact

Description: Flat bronze idol depicting a stylized male figure in an adoration gesture. The figure without cloths stands upright with legs slightly apart and arms raised at nearly a right angle, ending in oversized hands. The hands feature four fingers resembling large prongs, while the thumb, extended to the side, touches the head. The bird-like face with large, bulging, round eyes, a prominent nose, and a wide-open mouth. The legs are slightly bent, as if the figure were on the verge of dropping to its knees. Votive figures such as the present one were found in North Caucasus, for example in Karata in Dagestan. They were likely made and sold near sacrificial sites as offerings to the gods. See for this type: “Archäologie und Volkskunst aus Dagestan: Völker zwischen Kaukasus und Kaspischem Meer”: exhibition catalogue for the Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum and for the Vorarlberger Landesmuseum, 12 August to 7 November 1999; 12 February to 9 April 2000, numbers 50 and 51, p. 58. As well as: Alexis A. Zakharov “Material for the Archaeology of the Caucasus: Anthropomorphic Bronze Statuettes” in Swiatowit 15, 1932–1933, pp. 76–80, fig. 56. Mounted.