bronze adornment. goddess ?

Discussion in 'Antique Discussion' started by Fid, Mar 6, 2019.

  1. Fid

    Fid Well-Known Member

    bronzead1 (800x406).jpg
    bronzead2 (800x428).jpg
    hello. sorry for not putting this item in a specific category. bronze adornment that seems to have been fixed on a top corner of something. 30 centimeters or ~ 12" long. goddes of what ? Gin ? :)
    TIA.
     
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  2. clutteredcloset49

    clutteredcloset49 Well-Known Member

    I know Medusa is supposed to have snakes instead of hair, but is there any reason you don't think that this might be a stylized Medusa.
     
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  3. Aquitaine

    Aquitaine Is What It IS! But NEVER BORED!

    EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKK!!!! Other than the fact that I'm not really fond of snakes, it IS rather nice......in YOUR house!!!!!!!! Maybe @Bronwen might have some thoughts???

    OOOH, Cluttered, you popped in ahead while I was typing!!! Good thoughts!!!!!!!
     
  4. i need help

    i need help Moderator Moderator

    Maybe it’s Eve?
     
    judy likes this.
  5. Fid

    Fid Well-Known Member

    two snakes only and the laurel wreath made me think rather in the direction of a Victory symbol or a female Asclepius of some sort.
     
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  6. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    I'm not sure whether there's a coherent image here or an outburst of art nouveau exuberance. Everyone is right about snakes & Medusa, of course, & it's not at all unusual for Medusa to be depicted as very beautiful. It would be unusual for Eve to be framed by 2 shakes. There's more going on, though. This looks meant to be quite a young woman. And Fid just added:

    I don't recognize the plant but does not look like laurel to me. The gestalt I get with a young woman, a couple of serpents & what might be sheaves/bundles of something edible, is Persephone/Proserpina. Her mother Ceres/Demeter keeps a couple of serpents around, mainly as draught animals, and takes her chariot & a couple of torches to go looking for her abducted daughter.

    Following Fid's good thought, the daughter of Asklepios, Hygieia, is a definite possibility, since herbs and a snake are among her attributes. The physician's staff with a single snake got conflated long ago with the beribboned caduceus of Hermes, the ribbons becoming 2 snakes.

    Aesclepius cast.jpg medicine1860 allegorical Hahnel__Hygeia's attributes.jpg

    The second figure is an allegorical one of Medicine; the serpent is coiled on her right arm & she is feeding it from a bowl.

    Could be this was a decoration for the drug cabinet of a very upscale medical practice or apothecary.
     
  7. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Just a guess, Cleopatra with asps. Cleopatra was Ptolemaic, so Hellenistic Macedonian, not necessarily Egyptian.
     
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  8. Fid

    Fid Well-Known Member

    and here another few you wouldn't like to see in your house; all bronze btw. :)
    bronze1 (473x800).jpg
    although the sword looks like it, it has nothing to do with
    American Chopper. but then, I don't know what it might mean myself :hilarious:, most probably the guardian angel of a medieval city.
    bronze2 (399x800).jpg
    an easy one from the Grand Tour
    bronze3 (640x800).jpg
    and an anti-war one by the well-known French sculptor Émile FERNAND-DUBOIS (1869-1952).
     
  9. Figtree3

    Figtree3 What would you do if you weren't afraid?

    Interesting discussion, all.

    I just found this long blog post musing on snake symbolism in the ancient and post-ancient world. Also tries to connect it to today's world. I enjoyed reading it, although it may not help with identifying the original object posted here. http://theindigovat.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-return-of-snake.html
     
    Bronwen and i need help like this.
  10. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    The serpent has been a symbol of wisdom across time & cultures. (And in some cultures the owl is the symbol of stupidity.) It seems to me to be a Christian distortion of the Eden story that demonizes the snake. Eve is persuaded to try the fruit of the Tree not of Knowledge, nor of Evil, but of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, a new perspective on things that destroys paradise. Suddenly, being naked is evil; ignorance of this concept was truly bliss. The first couple are expelled from the Garden before they can also eat fruit from the Tree of Eternal Life and become rivals.

    This is obviously not the Rape of Persephone, it is Persephone's mother Demeter, searching for her daughter, encountering the nymph Arethusa, who is able to tell her what happened to the girl.

    [​IMG]

    http://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph5.htm#479128841

    http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/F6F30773-6A7F-4B16-9749-C0A7B2E52403
     
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