Celtic Iron Age - Stone Tympanum and Pediment > Lot No. 584

Description:
Circa 1st century BC - 1st century AD. A Celtic shrine tympanum and pediment fragment, the tympanum featuring four human busts facing outward: a tall male, a shorter female to his right, and two smaller figures to his left all facing the viewer; the eyes executed in the characteristic Celtic almond-shape, the nose flat, the mouth scaphoid, the hair stranded, combed forward for the male and centre-parted for the female; some details of the clothing visible on the far right figure. The iconography of the adult pair with smaller figures suggests a family group of parents and children; there are however parallels for a pair of deities depicted 'full-size' with diminutive attendants e.g. the tableau from Aquae Sulis (Bath, Somerset) depicting a horned god, a goddess and three smaller hooded companions. The execution is in the pre-Roman figural style, apparently uninfluenced by the classicizing tendencies of later Gallo-Roman art - compare e.g. the Sucellos/Nantosuelta pillar from Sarrebourg (Metz, Germany), with its naturalistic realization of the human form versus the Gallic style seen at Roquepertuse, Euffigneix and Entremont.

Measurements:
70cm wide.

Condition:
Finely carved in limestone, some damage to lower edge, substantially complete.

References:
Ross, A. 'Pagan Celtic Britain', London, 1974; Megaw, R. and V. 'Celtic Art: From its Beginnings to the Book of Kells', London, 1989.

Provenance:
Believed found in Germany in the 19th century. Ex old English collection.

Export licence:
No

Low estimate: £2,500
High estimate: £3,500

Auction date: Friday 19th March 2010 at The Swedenborg Hall 20-21 Bloomsbury Way
London WC1A 2TH

Sold for: £2,300