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Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Anatolian, 2700-2200 BC
Height: 5.4 cm
Provenance: with Gallery Serodine, Ascona; Private collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above at TEFAF Basel, 6 November 1996, nos.6-8.
Figures such as these could have had multiple functions, ranging from a substitute body, votive objects, or funerary gifts, to either protect the deceased or 'to mediate between the deceased and the deities.
Literature: For other Kusura-Beycesultan type abstract-schematic idols of slightly larger proportions, see J. Thimme, Art and Culture of the Cyclades, Chicago, 1977, p.386 and 560-561, nos. 513 and 515. Thimme suggests that the 'horn' head projection could represent a "bound tuft of hair or possibly the attachment for a mask" (p. 560).
For further discussion on the function of Anatolian idols see, D. Jansen-Buis and P. Venema, 'A Small Collection of Anatolian Stone and Terracotta Figurines of the Early Bronze Age in Amsterdam', Anatolica, No. XII, 1985, pp. 29-42.
Anatolian, 2700-2200 BC
Height: 5.4 cm
Provenance: with Gallery Serodine, Ascona; Private collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above at TEFAF Basel, 6 November 1996, nos.6-8.
Figures such as these could have had multiple functions, ranging from a substitute body, votive objects, or funerary gifts, to either protect the deceased or 'to mediate between the deceased and the deities.
Literature: For other Kusura-Beycesultan type abstract-schematic idols of slightly larger proportions, see J. Thimme, Art and Culture of the Cyclades, Chicago, 1977, p.386 and 560-561, nos. 513 and 515. Thimme suggests that the 'horn' head projection could represent a "bound tuft of hair or possibly the attachment for a mask" (p. 560).
For further discussion on the function of Anatolian idols see, D. Jansen-Buis and P. Venema, 'A Small Collection of Anatolian Stone and Terracotta Figurines of the Early Bronze Age in Amsterdam', Anatolica, No. XII, 1985, pp. 29-42.