Terracotta bust
Necropolis of La Albufereta (Alicante) Terracotta h: 40 cm; w: 37 cm; d: 21.5 cm Iberian 4th-3rd century BC: 37 cm; w: 21'5 cm Iberian 4th-3rd century BC.
Female bust with a flared form reconstructed from several fragments. The head and part of the front and back left side of the body are preserved. It was made in a mould and the interior is hollow.
The features of the face have a markedly Greek air. The hair, which frames the face, is parted in the middle with the ends upwards. She is wearing a cap, kalathos, with a slightly truncated cone shape, similar to the one worn on the female head censers, so abundant in the Albufereta necropolis. Only the breast is hinted at from the chest and the back is smooth. On the sides there were holes (only one of which has been preserved) to fit false arms, also made of terracotta.
It retains some polychrome, blue on the cap and white and... on the body.
The piece has undergone a new restoration that has given a more stylised image to the heavy form due to the thick plaster additions of the previous recomposition (carried out shortly after it appeared).
It was found in the Iberian necropolis of Albufereta in the excavations of the 1930s directed by J. Lafuente Vidal in a grave that yielded a copious grave goods.
The figure represents the Punic Tanit, goddess of fertility. Its closest formal parallels can be found in Ibiza in busts in which, for example, the added arms can be seen. It is therefore possible that the piece is imported, of Carthaginian origin.
C.S. 5902
LAFUENTE VIDAL, J., 1934.
RUBIO GOMIS, F., 1986.
MARIN CEBALLOS, M.C., 1987.
Outstanding pieces in the Iberian Hall
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- ................................................. Necropolis of Cabezo Lucero (Guardamar del Segura)
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- Terracotta bust ................................................. Necropolis of La Albufereta (Alicante) Terracotta h: 40 cm; w: 37 cm; d: 21.5 cm Iberian 4th-3rd century BC: 37 cm; w: 21'5 cm Iberian 4th-3rd century BC.
- ................................................. Tossal de Manises (Alicante) Ceramic h: 31.5 cm; w: 21.4 cm Iberian Late 3rd century BC.
- ............................................. La Escuera (San Fulgencio) Iron h: 30 cm; w: 11.4 cm; h: 13.8 cm Iberian 3rd century BC.
- ................................................. Necropolis of Cabezo Lucero (Guardamar del Segura, Alicante) Sandstone) Sandstone h: 49 cm; w: 54 cm; d: 33 cm Iberian Late 5th century BC, early 4th century BC.
- ................................................ Necropolis of Cabezo Lucero (Guardamar del Segura, Alicante) Iron h: 57 cm; w: 7 cm; d: 1.5 cm Iberian Second quarter of the 4th century BC.
